r-2017-11-30

With bells on

LocaL hoLiday concerts see arts&culture, page 12

s d k o w n fo ne ju ThreaTs To democracy are real in The posT-TruTh age

RENo’s NEws & ENtERtaiNmENt wEEkly

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VolumE 23, issuE 42

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NoVEmbER 30 – dEcEmbER 6, 2017

EMail lEttErs to rENolEttErs@NEwsrEviEw.CoM.

Any day now

Island of enchantment

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review. I want to give a quick shout-out to a couple of RN&R staffers. As I wrote in this column a few weeks ago, my fiancee, Margot Choltco, is pregnant. She’s now very, very pregnant—due, in fact, to give birth to our baby any day now. Any day now. Any. Day. Now. Needless to say, I’ve been a bit distracted. I’m also experiencing some weird sympathy hormones that really kicked in over Thanksgiving weekend. I hardly left the house and didn’t even want to. All I wanted to do was laundry and curl up next to the fire with a good book. It was either some sudden, dramatic onset of middle age or just straight-up gettingready-for-a-baby nesting vibes. I’ve found it difficult to talk about much else. Nearly every conversation I’ve had in the last week or so I’ve somehow managed to steer toward baby talk. Like, for example, I could start writing a column ready to praise my colleagues and then somehow, two paragraphs later, realize all I’ve managed to say is that I’m having a baby. So, yeah, I’ve been a bit distracted. I’m preparing to take some time off for paternity leave, and I took off a couple of days early in November to work on some personal creative projects I wanted to finish before Baby Time. And at the same time, our esteemed news editor, Dennis Myers, also needed to take some time off the last few weeks for personal reasons. So, special projects editor Jeri Chadwell and arts editor Kris Vagner have been doing most of the heavy lifting around here—writing cover stories, arts features, news stories and whatever else needed putting ink to paper. They also edited the hell out of columns and features outside their usual purviews. And they did so with positive, supportive attitudes— repeatedly asking what else they could do to help. And meanwhile, our amazing calender editor, Kelley Lang, kept quietly plugging away at the most comprehensive events listings in the valley. Huge thanks to all three of them.

Re “After the storm” (cover story, Nov. 16): Thank you for sharing this story. As a Puerto Rican living in the Reno-Tahoe area, I’m struck by the compassion received from friends and strangers alike asking about my family and friends in PR. My own family’s beach property is unreachable due to the river changing course and making the land an island. My mom, aunts and uncles who put their retirement savings into building their beachfront homes can no longer live there, and yet they are still better off than so many others. But they are faced with a new, uncertain future—one all too familiar to every Puerto Rican today. C. Faust’s story vividly tells the fate of many in PR who had to—and continue to—survive without basic needs met. It is a truth too real and one we may all one day face if current U.S. policies towards social and public infrastructure, economics and environment are left unattended. I’ve always thought Puerto Rico to be a microcosm of what will happen in the bigger context of sociopolitical issues. But enough of doomsday prophecies. I was there three weeks after Maria hit. I saw the aftermath of cleanup efforts. I participated in distributing needed resources for others. I saw trees just starting to green again and darkness engulfing an island trying to see the light. I saw their smiles bright but weakened, their spirits waned but resolve still strong. Hope is the last thing to die, right? What matters now is that we not forget what is still happening on my beautiful “island of enchantment” full of American citizens. Citizens who are U.S veterans from every U.S. war since World War I, midwives and teachers, doctors and children, lawyers, judges, astronauts, artists, musicians and poets. These people can legally leave the island and find an easier life in the 50 contiguous states (some have). And yet many stay despite the fact that most of the island continues to be without water and electricity. We

—Brad Bynum bradb@ ne w s r ev i ew . com

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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 Arts Editor Kris Vagner Calendar Editor Kelley Lang Contributors Amy Alkon, Matt Bieker, Kelsey Fitzgerald, Bob Grimm, Holly Hutchings, Kent Irwin,

Shelia Leslie, Josie Glassberg, Eric Marks, Jessica Santina, Todd South, Marc Tiar, Brendan Trainor, Bruce Van Dyke, Ashley Warren, Allison Young Design Manager Christopher Terrazas Creative Director Serene Lusano Art Director Margaret Larkin Marketing/Publications Designer Sarah Hansel Designers Kyle Shine, Maria Ratinova Web Design & Strategy Intern Elisabeth Bayard Arthur Sales Manager Emily Litt Office Manager Lisa Ryan RN&R Rainmaker Gina Odegard

NovembeR 30, 2017 | vol. 23, ISSue 42

can’t forget these American citizens, those who’ve given their lives for this country or lost their loved ones fighting our battles. We can’t forget those, like my grandmother, who wave the U.S. flag proudly. Please remember those who are wondering how they will keep their mom’s insulin cold, or get their dad to the closed doctor’s office due to rolling blackouts, or how they will prepare a Thanksgiving meal for their family without clean water. Please keep asking those questions, support those who are working on recovery efforts (one www.hispanicfederation.org/ unidos/), and rest assured that the people of Puerto Rico will find a way to stay on their feet. They may cry quietly in a dark corner for a minute, but they will straighten up, take a deep breath and move on. Thank you for keeping them in your thoughts. Monica Caldari Truckee

Deep in the heart of taxes Hey, Trump voters. I suppose you really think this tax scam the Republicans are working on is going to help you. If you’ve been listening, their aim is to eliminate the inheritance tax, the alternative minimum tax, and reduce the upper tax bracket as well as the corporate tax rate. Now, remember you hate deficit spending—or so you say. This will add $1.5 trillion to the debt. Huh! To do this, you either cut spending or borrow. So when the United States is broke, you same pikers will try to cut Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid, ag subsidies, disaster relief. All those programs that help Americans. This huge tax cut will only benefit the multinationals and mega wealthy who apparently are not wealthy enough. Is America ready to return to the middle ages and fiefdoms? Pick your lord: Bezos, Koch, Ivanka, Murdoch, Putin. Don McKechnie Sparks

Advertising Consultants Myranda Keeley, Kambrya Blake Distribution Director Greg Erwin Distribution Manager Bob Christensen Distribution Drivers Alex Barskyy, Brittany Alas, Corey Sigafoos, Gary White, Lucas Proctor, Marty Troye, Patrick L’Angelle, Timothy Fisher, Tracy Breeden, Vicki Jewell, Brandi Palmer, Olga Barska, Rosie Martinez President/CEO Jeff VonKaenel Director of Nuts & Bolts Deborah Redmond Executive Coordinator Carlyn Asuncion Project Coordinator Natasha VonKaenel Director of People & Culture David Stogner Nuts & Bolts Ninja: Leslie Giovanini

Director of Dollars & Sense Nicole Jackson Payroll/AP Wizard Miranda Hansen Accounts Receivable Specialist Analie Foland Sweetdeals Coordinator Hannah Williams Developers John Bisignano, Jonathan Schultz System Support Specialist Kalin Jenkins N&R Publications Editor Michelle Carl N&R Publications Associate Editor Laura Hillen N&R Publications Writer Anne Stokes Marketing & Publications Consultants Steve Caruso, Joseph Engle, Ken Cross, Elizabeth Morabito, Traci Hukill Cover design: Maria Ratinova

Out of sex Re “Sex ed: We’re doing it wrong” (cover story, Nov. 2): Instead of allowing the vocal minority of fundamentalist Christians to force their views about human sexuality on everyone else, why doesn’t Washoe County School District let parents opt their children out of the sex ed curriculum? Michael Powell Reno

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oPiNioN/strEEtalK shEila lEsliE brENDaN traiNor NEws FEatUrE arts&CUltUrE art oF thE statE FilM FooD DriNK NightClUbs/CasiNos this wEEK aDviCE goDDEss FrEE will astrology 15 MiNUtEs brUCE vaN DyKE

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By JERI CHADWELL

Media outlets you trust? AsKed At sierrA tAp house, 253 w. First st. AmAndA Klevel And Teaching assistant

I see the news stuff on Facebook, through, like, Channel 8 and other stuff like that. So, I guess Facebook—seeing that it’s coming directly from the news channels. I don’t really go to a specific outlet, only because I feel like a lot of them are super biased.

Kelsi nilsson Caretaker

I go on the RG-J a lot, actually—and, like, locally, I go on KOLO.com a lot, just to see all the crime scene stuff—especially where I live.

Aliou diAllo Waste water operator

Don’t use art as troll bait Often, local television news stations report on the visual arts with a tone that’s halfway between dismissive and derisive—something along the lines of, “Well, isn’t this kooky?” At RN&R, we think artists and their work deserve more carefully considered responses. Whether you like it, hate it, or aren’t sure what to make of it, there are always interesting questions and stories behind a festival, an exhibit, a movement or a single work of art—not to mention the cultural, social or political forces behind each of these. Recently, a local TV reporter stepped past casual dismissal and used a new outdoor sculpture as bait to incite knee-jerk, talk-before-you-think responses. On Nov. 21, KTVN’s Ky Sisson posted a photo on Facebook of the piece on USA Parkway, “Transition Portal,” by Kate Raudenbush. His caption read, “Oh boy ... what do you think of THIS? Remember how controversial the ‘Reno Star’ was on S. McCarran and Virginia? This 30-foot sculpture is out on USA Parkway now. Thoughts?” The station also shared the post, and a flurry of supporters and detractors shared and commented. Some found the sculpture “brilliant,” “lovely” or “beautiful.” Others criticized the use of Nevada Department of Transportation funding or decried the Californian influence that the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center—where the sculpture is located—represents. One called the piece “useless flimflam.” All of the above points merit thoughtful discussion. But Sisson’s post included no facts or observations, just

easy instigation at the expense of good reporting and productive discussion. We find Raudenbush’s sculpture to be a thoughtprovoking symbol of both the tension and the promise of a new tech industry, but we’re open to other interpretations. We wish there were more viewpoints reported on the artwork in our region. We wouldn’t have minded if Sisson had decided he hates the sculpture with every molecule of his being and had illuminated his reasons. We wouldn’t have been fazed if he had invited KTVN’s social media followers to discuss the ever-present discord between those who find art crucial to a civil society and those who find it a waste of public funds. And we would have been all ears if Sisson or KTVN had challenged NDOT to explain why state funding goes to a project like this—or even consulted NDOT’s website to learn about the goals of that organization’s Landscape & Aesthetics program. (Those goals are, “to improve the relationship between our highways and our communities, improve the state’s public image, welcome visitors, increase tourism and development opportunities, and enhance the attractiveness of transportation corridors while celebrating the state’s diversity.”) But Sisson did nothing other than use a piece of art to invite catty one-liners. That’s the precise opposite of what a news organization should be doing—even on social media, where an entity’s current worth is measured in clicks, likes and shares. (See “In transit,” p. 18, this week’s art story, for more about the “Transition Portal” sculpture.) Ω

I don’t have cable or anything— so I don’t really necessarily watch TV news. Media outlets I trust? I don’t think I trust any of them, to be honest. Sorry. I listen to all of the media outlets. … But I don’t necessarily say I trust one specific media outlet over another.

A Aron Crownover Firefighter

I trust the local media outlets more than I would a national outlet.

John Blonquist Bartender

News and Guts. That is the media outlet that I trust. It’s Dan Rather’s media outlet. He started it when Trump got elected, and he started that media outlet as a response to fake news and Donald Trump. And Dan Rather is a legitimate journalist.

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by SHEILA LESLIE

Racism runs rampant Since President Trump’s election, white nationalism has descended like a plague on our country, culminating in the violent “Unite the Right” march in Charlottesville. Whenever the President holds a campaign rally, we must now endure the obnoxious and racist chants he encourages as he revels in the boost his immeasurable ego needs to fuel his narcissism. A recent episode of racist bullying in Yerington public schools shows Nevada has not been spared from racists who are no longer shy about openly disrespecting anyone not demonstrably associated with the cult of “white culture.” According to the Reno Gazette-Journal, Taylissa Marriott and her stepsister Jayla Tolliver are African-American students at Yerington High School, where they have experienced ongoing racial bullying that would be intolerable in more enlightened areas of Nevada. School officials and local police have minimized the bullies’ behavior and the corresponding effects on the two girls

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and their family, using the old-school rationalization of “kids will be kids” to excuse their actions. The bullying has featured hateful racist speech and name-calling. According to the newspaper, in October a photo was posted on social media by the shirtless son of a Lyon County sheriff’s deputy who is holding a gun and wearing a belt with knives. The photo, which portrays him in an odd, pseudowarrior pose, is accompanied by a crude comment: “The red neck god of all gods … we bout to go [racial slur] huntin,” and “Watch out [racial slur].” The girls’ family filed police reports about the escalation in the bullying, but Yerington police refused to open an investigation, saying it was protected speech. The family’s official statements were then shredded by police, an action deemed a mistake when the newspaper asked about it. Yerington Mayor George Dini said the entire incident was simply a case of ignorant teenagers who meant no harm.

Nevada has strengthened its anti-bullying laws in schools in recent years over the objections of many school officials who don’t want to become the “bully police.” Yerington High School principal Duane Mattice was dismissive of the teenagers’ reports of bullying, saying nonsensically that the situation has now spiraled out of the school’s control. Mattice told the RG-J, “We are addressing those who have done something, but now other kids have gotten involved, and it’s hard to control that.” The article highlights the refusal of many officials in Nevada to acknowledge the existence of bullying and racial strife in their schools. In an outrageous but revealing comment to the RG-J, Principal Mattice responds to a suggestion from a Paiute tribal leader that the school’s Notable Graduates wall include pictures of graduates from an array of racial and ethnic backgrounds by joking, “Last year we nominated someone of Italian descent. Does that count?” Surely we can do better by these students.

As the controversy swirled, Reno mourned the loss of a racial justice leader, Darryl Feemster, Sr., who died from a stroke he suffered earlier in November. Darryl worked for the City of Reno as the Youth and Seniors Services Manager and was a huge supporter of the Northeast Reno Community Center and the annual Senior Games. As a member of the extended Feemster family from northeast Reno, he was very active in local affairs, leading the effort to build the DuncanTraner Community Library to serve area schools with expanded hours for the entire neighborhood. He hired foster youth for part-time jobs and added his guidance at no charge. Darryl’s commitment to serving others and his friendly, engaging smile won him thousands of friends and supporters. In my mind, I can hear him counseling the Yerington stepsisters and their family and offering his heartfelt support during their troubles. We will greatly miss him. Ω

by Brendan Trainor

Criminal justice reform Recent polls indicate most Americans, including Trump-supporting Republicans, believe there is need for major criminal justice reform. According to a recent ACLU poll, 65 percent of Americans believe that violent criminal offenders can turn their lives around. And despite organized police pushback against the “Ferguson Effect,” most Americans believe the justice system is racially biased. A majority also favor treatment for drug addicts who commit violent acts rather than imprisonment. Our American Republic is authorized by the Declaration of Independence to use just powers in defense of our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Today, many Americans question if just powers could have created the mass incarceration of our citizens we see today. The Sixth Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the right to an attorney. The right to counsel was not applied to state prosecutions for felony offenses until 1963 in the

landmark Supreme Court case Gideon v. Wainwright. The Supreme Court also requires “effective counsel.” Government coerces taxes from its citizens to be used ostensibly to protect us, but they have failed to protect our liberty by gross negligence of our due process rights in criminal prosecutions. Eighty percent of defendants in criminal cases need a state-appointed attorney. Yet only 2 percent of criminal justice funding goes to providing public defenders. Many say Nevada has simply not budgeted enough to protect the due process rights of its citizens, especially in the rural counties. Prosecutors have an incredible advantage over defense attorneys because they do not have to pay for their investigative services. They use the police and crime labs without charge. Public defenders are overworked and underpaid. Most can only spend minutes with a client before deciding whether to accept a plea bargain. Very few of the accused get their day in court but are coerced into taking a plea. People

who choose to go to trial with a public defender are too often convicted. Prosecutors receive favorable publicity and campaign talking points about the guilty pleas their offices collect. Few bother to question how many who plead guilty did so fearing a trial prosecuted by an angry district attorney while represented by an overworked public defender. On Nov. 2, the ACLU of Nevada sued the State of Nevada and Gov. Brian Sandoval for failing to adequately fund our public defender system. The lawsuit contends that Nevada’s obligation to provide a public defender extends beyond simply providing a body with a law degree. It requires provision of adequate resources to provide an effective defense. The suit, Davis v. Nevada, focuses primarily on the lack of public defender funding in 11 rural Nevada counties. It charges that Sandoval and others knew of the conditions in rural Nevada due to Nevada Supreme Court reports but did nothing to improve them. The suit alleges

the widespread practice of flat-fee contracts that lead to heavy workloads with little time for individual clients. Public defenders are not compensated for travel expenses. Their contracts often require attorneys to get court orders to pay for investigations. There is no infrastructure to provide training and supervision. Many already inadequate contracts include appellate work, which discourages appeals. Rural counties often contract with private attorneys due to the inadequate State Public Defender’s office. Private attorneys often have more lucrative cases they must spend time on than indigent defense. Davis v. Nevada asks the Nevada Supreme Court to find that Nevada has been negligent in protecting due process for the indigent, and enjoin the state to submit a concrete proposal to provide indigent defense that is consistent with the US and Nevada constitutions. Ω

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By Jeri Chadwell

Pot tale of the week Washoe County Commissioner Kitty Jung wrote an  essay for Dope Magazine, a Seattle-based online  magazine “dedicated to creating purposeful,  relevant conversations. Featuring marijuana news  and product reviews.” Jung’s piece, headlined “Is Reno, Nevada, cannabis’ biggest little secret?,” was published on Nov.  21. It’s filed under the “news” section of the website, but it’s essentially marketing directed toward  out-of-state recreational cannabis users. “Several other states legalized recreational  cannabis on the same day as Nevada [Nov. 8,  2016],” she writes. “However, Nevada is alone  among those states with an active—and thriving—recreational cannabis industry. Nevada is  also the only state to come online after the Senate  confirmation of Attorney General and notorious  pot adversary Jeff Sessions. Despite the Attorney  General’s loudest bellows, Nevada policymakers pushed forward with recreational cannabis,  alone but undeterred. As a result, the industry in  Nevada is currently employing thousands of people  in jobs that start with living wages and can quickly  grow into very lucrative careers. Owners of dispensaries, cultivation and production facilities in  Nevada have been good neighbors and have added  value to adjoining real estate and wholeheartedly  have joined our community. While other states  and municipalities in similar situations seem to  be fumbling the ball, the Reno area has a willingness to embrace the industry and the decision is  already paying off.” She details the four million dollars in tax revenue that went to the state in the first month after  legalization and predicts that Nevada “appears to  be on pace to raise over 120 million dollars over  two years.” She’s also mentions some of the outdoor and  indoor recreation available around the city as an  appeal to tourists.  And citing the state’s history with gambling,  prostitution and “combat sports,” she boasts that  “the state of Nevada has a sterling reputation  regulating vice.”  “Recreational cannabis is a natural fit for a  state that has a happy habit of converting faux  pas into massive industries,” she wrote.  Jung has been a vocal proponent of legalized marijuana for years. Her profile page on the  Washoe County government websites states: “As  the Washoe County strategic plan goal team lead,   Commissioner Jung is also promoting a proactive  approach to preparing for implementation of legalized marijuana in unincorporated Washoe County.” “It wasn’t long ago that simple possession of  cannabis was a felony on both the Las Vegas strip  and in downtown Reno” begins Jung’s piece.  That was then. Nowadays, Washoe County has  sitting officials writing marketing appeals to cannabis tourists.  The whole essay can be read at www.dopemagazine.com/reno-nv-cannabis-washoe-countykitty-jung

—Brad Bynum

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je r ic @ ne wsr e v ie w.c o m

Verizon Wireless retailers, like this one on South Virginia Street in the Smithridge Center, will be the sites of protests against the FCC’s likely reversal of net neutrality rules. PHOTO/JERI CHADWELL

Nothing but net The fight over net neutrality comes to a head on Nov. 22, the los angeles times published an op-ed by Jessica Rosenworcel, one of the Federal Communications Commission’s five commissioners. The headline read, “I’m on the FCC. Please stop us from killing net neutrality.” Net neutrality requires internet service providers to treat all online data the same and prohibits them from speeding up, slowing down, blocking or charging differently by user, content, website, platform or application. In other words, it means the companies that connect you to the internet do not get to control what you do on the internet. Rosenworcel, a Democrat, was originally appointed to the FCC by Obama and later reappointed by Trump. In 2015, she was one of three commissioners who voted to classify broadband as a communication service and regulate internet service providers (ISPs) as common carriers under Title II of the Telecommunications Act—which regulates public utilities.

The 3-2 vote allowed the FCC to enforce the principles of net neutrality—but it may soon be overturned. In April, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai—who also served on the commission during the Obama administration—announced plans to roll back net neutrality. In May, the now Republican-controlled commission voted to move forward with a review of Pai’s proposal and opened a public comment period. Nearly 22 million comments were submitted—more than five times the FCC’s previous comment record of 3.7 million, set during the last net neutrality proceedings. That was back during 2014, and comedian John Oliver, host of the HBO series Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, has often been credited with inspiring much of the wave of comments. The Washington Post reported that only a day after Oliver asked his viewers to flood the FCC website with comments in favor of net neutrality, the commission’s “commenting system had stopped working, thanks

to more than 45,000 new comments on net neutrality likely sparked by Oliver.” The same may have happened after Oliver did another segment on net neutrality in May, again asking viewers to flood the FCC site with comments, though the commission said in a statement that problems with its website—which started shortly after Oliver’s segment—were the result of a cyberattack, not an influx of people attempting to submit comments. The comment period regarding the FCC’s current proposals for net neutrality closed on Aug. 30 but began making headlines again over the Thanksgiving weekend, when claims started circulating of fake comments submitted in favor of repeal. A Nov. 25 article in Fortune reported: “Data scientist Jeff Kao says that more than a million public comments in support of the FCC’s planned rollback of net neutrality rules are likely fake. Kao also, by removing the fake pro-repeal comments, concluded that more than 99 percent of the unique, human-authored comments on the system favored maintaining current net neutrality rules.” Still, Pai has argued repeatedly that net neutrality rules aren’t necessary. “The internet is the greatest free market success in history,” he said during an April speech in Washington D.C. “For decades before 2015, the free and open internet flourished under lighttouch regulation.” But proponents of net neutrality, including Rosenworcel, worry that undoing regulations would just be clearing the way for ISPs to control the content people access, and the speeds at which they’re able to get it, through the creation of “fast lanes” and “slow lanes” on the internet. Another recent article in Fortune notes that this is “not an unfounded concern. In 2007, the FCC sued Comcast for interfering with traffic from BitTorrent, the file transfer service. The commission lost, owing to a lack of legal basis for the complaint—basis it later achieved with the 2015 reclassification.” The FCC will vote on the matter on Dec. 14. In the meantime, Rosenworcel wants people to take a stand. “I think the FCC needs to work for the public, and therefore that this

proposal needs to be slowed down and eventually stopped,” she wrote in her op-ed. “In the time before the agency votes, anyone who agrees should do something old-fashioned: Make a ruckus.” It would seem people in Reno intend to do just that.

Fighting words Fight for the Future is a non-profit that was founded in 2011. According to its website, the organization’s mission is “to ensure that the web continues to hold freedom of expression and creativity at its core.” The organization has been involved in campaigns concerning internet rights and web censorship since its founding. In 2012, it organized an online protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House and the Senate’s companion bill, the Protect IP Act (PIPA). The group was also involved in driving traffic to the FCC comment site during 2014 net neutrality proceedings. Now, through a campaign called “Team Internet,” Fight for the Future is encouraging people to organize protests on the local level. The campaign website—battleforthenet. com—shows hundreds of upcoming events. Some of these are for sit-down meetings with

congressional representatives, but the majority of them are for protests planned at Verizon Wireless retail stores across the country on Thursday, Dec. 7, one week before the FCC’s expected net neutrality vote. Here in Reno, two protests are being planned by locals. Alex Worden, who is hosting a protest outside of the Verizon store at the Summit Reno mall, said he’s concerned that many people don’t understand net neutrality. “I think people don’t really realize how important it is to have that law in place,” Worden said. “I know my sister, when I told her about it—she didn’t even know what was going on. I had to explain it her, what they’re doing. I’m pretty sure a lot of people don’t know about the law in the first place.” The protest Worden is organizing will start at 1 p.m. on Dec. 7, and he’s encouraging people to remember that it’s a peaceful protest and to bring signs and printed materials. The other protest scheduled in Reno is being organized by Alex Goodman and will begin at the Verizon store at Smithridge Center at 12 p.m. on Dec. 7. According to Goodman’s event page, at around 1 p.m., the “group will begin to march and protest all the way to the office of Mark Amodei, less than a mile away.” Ω

The FCC votes on net neutrality on Dec. 14.

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Local artist Hayley Jane created a face painting on Amy Rich during an album release show on a recent Saturday evening at the Saint, 761 S. Virginia St. Jane and her family run their business, Faces 4 Fun, from inside the Circus Circus Casino but also do events and drop-ins at local bars and nightclubs. PHOTO/JERI CHADWELL

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THE TMCC PERFORMING ARTS PROGRAM PRESENTS STEPHEN SCHWARTZ’S

S FOR THE

PRING 2018 SEMESTER !

AUDITIONS ARE SUNDAY, DECEMBER 10 AT 7 PM.

CALLBACKS ARE MONDAY, DECEMBER 11 AT 7 PM.

-dance audition will occur first - prepare up to one minute of a song that shows off your voice, please bring sheet music for the provided accompanist - you may also present a short monologue if you have one prepared - additionally, if you have any experience in clowning, juggling, silks, tumbling, gymnastics, or circus arts, be prepared to display your talent

The callback list will be posted on the TMCC theatre page on Facebook by Monday at 1 pm

REHEARSALS BEGIN MONDAY JANUARY 16 AND ARE MONDAY – FRIDAY 7-10 PERFORMANCES ARE April 13,14,20,21,26,27,28 at 8pm April 22, 29 2pm

NELL J. REDFIELD PERFORMING ARTS CENTER 505 KEYSTONE AVE., RENO NEVADA

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by Huff and Nolan Higdon, a professor of English, communications and history in the Bay Area, with a report titled “Post-Truth Dystopia— Fake News, Alternative Facts and the Ongoing War on Reality.” It begins with a quote from the late H.L. Mencken, a culture writer, thinker and satirist not known as a defender of democracy and democratic principles, but his writing offered insight into a particular failing of a civilization without a citizenry that is engaged, informed and armed with the ability to think critically: “Civilization, in fact, grows more and more maudlin and hysterical; especially under democracy it tends to degenerate into a mere combat of crazes; the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed—and hence clamorous to be led to safety—by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.” Huff and Higdon continue by referencing Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business to frame the chapter on Junk Food News. Postman says a particular medium can only sustain a certain level of ideas. Since the advent of television, Americans receive a great deal of their information through television news, sitcoms and dramas. But this form can’t articulate complex ideas the way print typography can. Shortcomings of television dilute politics and religion. And “news of the day” becomes a packaged commodity. Postman argues that television de-emphasizes the quality of information to satisfy the far-reaching needs of entertainment. The result is that quality information becomes secondary to entertainment value. Postman’s analysis originated from a talk he gave in 1985 at the Frankfurt Book Fair, where he participated on a panel focused on George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-four and the contemporary world. During this talk, Postman said that the contemporary world was better reflected by Aldous Huxley’s A Brave New World, whose public was oppressed by their addiction to amusement, than by Orwell’s book, whose people are oppressed by state control. The New York Times writer Michiko Kakutani said Morris Berman’s The Dark Ages of America: The Final Phase of Empire gives the left a bad name.

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Huff and Higdon characterized this coverage as a backlash in response to Trump not allowing corporate media to hobnob with the power elites. Project Censored described the White House correspondents’ dinner as a means to ingratiate themselves to power rather than speak truth to power. This unhealthy diet of junk news displaced news about the widespread famine in Yemen, a region raked by a two-year-old war led by Saudi Arabia and backed by the U.S. that left more than 10,000 dead and 40,000 wounded in the region. A U.N. report estimated that more than 90 percent of Yemen’s citizens are experiencing famine and malnutrition. Huff and Higdon described the Summer Olympic Games of 2016 as a media spectacle, particularly after the corporate media latched onto the story of the four U.S. Olympic swimmers who lied about being robbed at gunpoint after vandalizing a gas station bathroom and being stopped by an armed security guard. Project Censored contrasted the slap on the wrist received by the swimmers, who happened to be white, with the treatment of gold medalist Gabby Douglas, who’s African-American, when she didn’t put her hand over her heart during the medal ceremony. This news displaced coverage of “flooding on a historic scale” in Louisiana. Project Censored noted that, “while the damage caused was less than that of Hurricane Katrina, 20,000 residents had to be rescued, 10,000 were placed in shelters, and several people lost their lives.” Huff and Higdon also highlighted the Academy Awards unscandalous scandal in which La La Land was mistakenly announced as Best Picture. It took only two minutes until the film Moonlight was announced as the real winner, but Huff and Higdon noted that this nonscandal scandal obscured the major news that nearly 550 community leaders, elected officials, business moguls, health officials and politicians called for doubling the strength of the Regional Greenhouse Gas initiative, a clean air and healthy climate program. The authors noted that, “a gathering of this size to enact policies to prevent further climate change is certainly worthy of major attention. But instead, the American public was treated to endless punditry on who was responsible for the year’s Best Picture blunder.” Huff and Higdon recounted how Huff and former Project Censored director Peter Phillips argued in 2010 that the U.S. was facing a truth emergency. They assert that “in the United States today, the rift between reality and reporting has reached its end. There is no longer a mere credibility gap, but rather a literal Truth Emergency. … This is a culmination of the failures of the Fourth Estate to act as a truly free press.” In 2017, the authors concluded that little has changed. In the current edition of Project Censored, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s alleged use of chemical weapons on his own people is a primary example. This attack was used to justify Trump’s order to fire of 59 Tomahawk missiles on a country torn by civil war. Project Censored pushes back against the notion that critiquing the corporate press pushing the chemical weapon attack is tantamount to being pro-Assad. Indeed, Project Censored adds nuance that should be applied to the Trump administration and the role of the Russians in the 2016 presidential elections. Huff and Higdon wrote: “This is a complicated matter, to be sure, one that even sparks

ILLUSTRATION/ANSON STEVENS-BOLLEN

A year ago, Random Lengths News and the rest of America’s alternative press celebrated the 40th anniversary of Project Censored and the ongoing journalistic mission of its editors, Mickey Huff and Andy Lee Roth, to expose the important news of each year that has routinely gone underreported or been effectively censored. But in 2017, Project Censored’s 41st (see “The 10 most censored stories of 2017,” cover story, Nov. 9), Huff and Roth reached a milestone—the year in which an episode of The Simpsons played out in real life. Foreshadowed in a TV cartoon, the black comedy of events that obscured and propelled Donald Trump’s rise to president of the United States is now chronicled in the Project Censored chapter devoted to Junk Food News—the so-called “fake news” that squeezed into the places that should have been filled with legitimate, essential information. In 2016, Project Censored’s legions of student interns, writers and editors spent a considerable amount of ink on the emerging youth movement. The movement produced formidable activists in its own right and led to coverage of the passion that spurred Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign during the presidential primaries and made the movement to abolish the use of superdelegates in the days after the election about more than just sour grapes. The occasion of the 40th anniversary and its emphasis on youth seemed to infuse Huff and Roth with hopefulness in Project Censored and the good hands doing its work. But this past election cycle did something else. Project Censored opened this year’s Junk Food News chapter, co-written

It is against this backdrop that Project Censored itemizes examples of Junk Food News distracting Americans, ranging from Trump’s refusal to attend the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner to the breathless reporting on Trump’s every tweet.

In 2000, an episode of The Simpsons predicted Donald Trump would become president and bankrupt the country.

ph OT O/ GA GE Sk Id MO rE

IM AG E/ YO UT UB E

vivid disagreements among the anti-imperialist and the pacifist left in the U.S. To question official narratives should not mean people are automatically pro-Assad—or pro-Putin, for that matter. More importantly, what does it mean to be pro-truth in a post-truth world, when the truth can be elusive, especially in an environment addled by propaganda coming from many sides?” Huff and Higdon noted that the corporate press’ engagement in news abuse regarding Syria is an attempt to build public support for U.S. invasion, much like the second war in Iraq a decade earlier. According to Project Censored, “This makes accurate reporting and publishing of diverse perspectives all the more crucial.” They argue that the countermeasure to news abuse and propaganda is an informed citizenry with strong critical thinking skills. Project Censored actually goes a little further than that by saying that the level of critical thinking required now goes beyond the critical thinking that simply evaluates information based on conformity with existing knowledge. Huff and Higdon argue that the critical thinking required now is one that can embrace perspectives at odds with “prevailing wisdom or personal views” based on evaluation of real facts. The authors identified a few different and daunting examples of why this form of education is necessary. One of those examples was the aim of right-wing personality Glenn Beck and pseudo-historian David Barton to offer training camps to teach graduating high school students their revisionist history. They used the words of Salon blogger Amanda Marcotte to describe their historical narrative, saying that it is “one that valorizes straight white men as humanity’s natural leaders and grants Christian fundamentalism a centrality to American history that it does not, in reality, have.” Marcotte also noted that, “in Barton’s history, the founding father idea of government was rooted in fundamentalist Christianity, instead of enlightenment philosophy, and the contributions of people of color are minimized in service of centering Christian white men as the righteous shepherds guiding everyone else.” Huff and Higdon also argue that schools should teach media literacy as core curriculum to help fight against news abuse and fake news. Project Censored noted that the U.S. education system has drifted to the same for-profit model of information dissemination as the mass media, yielding many of the same results. They cited critical theory scholar Henry Giroux, who notes that the for-profit model of education emphasizes individual responsibility for problems created by systemic failures. “The market-driven discourse in higher education, including the corporatization of education that privileges administrators over faculty (who became low-paid workers while students are seen as customers), has outlawed or marginalized those faculty who do talk about critiquing the system rather than teach students to accept it and work with it.” Giroux concludes that a “democracy cannot exist without informed citizens and public spheres and educational apparatuses that uphold standards of truth, honesty, evidence, facts and justice. Under Trump, disinformation masquerading as news … has become a weapon for legitimating ignorance and civic illiteracy.” To combat this, Giroux is quoted: “Artists, educators, young people, journalists and others need to make the virtue of truth-telling visible again. We need to connect democracy with a notion of truth-telling and consciousness that is on the side of economic and political justice, and democracy itself. If we are going to fight for and with the most marginalized people, there must be a broader understanding of their needs. We need to create narratives and platforms in which those who have been deemed disposable can identify themselves and the conditions through which power and oppression bear down on their lives.”

Ben Carson, U.S. secretary of housing and urban development, has characterized slaves as immigrants who found success in America.

Huff and Higdon recounted the brief history of the term “fake news,” since Trump was “electored” president. The authors noted that during one week in January 2017, the trend of people researching the term “fake news” on Google jumped 100 fold above pre-election levels. Trump and his supporters denounced any critiques of the new administration—such as CNN for questioning the validity of his statements—as fake news. But Project Censored noted that Trump and his underlings were not alone in labeling inconvenient truths as fake news. The Democratic National Committee was also guilty, as it sought to explain how Clinton lost to Trump. Project Censored noted that the partisan practice of labeling inconvenient truths as fake news undermined credible journalism while distracting the public from the barrage of actual fake news flooding our global society. This was reminiscent of a Ron Suskind story in The New York Times magazine more than a decade ago in which the phrase “reality-based community” was used by an aide in the George W. Bush administration. The term was a phrase used to denigrate a critic of the administration’s policies. In it, Suskind wrote: “The aide said that guys like me were ‘in what we call the reality-based community,’ which he defined as people who believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality. … ‘That’s not the way the world really works anymore,’ he continued. ‘We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors … and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.’” The source was later revealed to be political operative and Bush administration adviser Karl Rove, but he has denied it. Huff and Higdon noted that the internet’s promise of delivering endless information to circumvent a post-truth world has not succeeded in producing a well-informed populace. Instead, the inflation of spurious information coupled with an education system that does not teach critical media literacy to students and does not show them how to navigate and participate in the digital world has resulted in a dystopia of falsehoods that are now referred to as “alternative facts.” This post-truth environment, they argue, gave rise to a term defined as an outright lie that is introduced and then used as evidence to support a desired conclusion. Among the examples Project Censored used: • Former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s claiming three times that a terror attack occurred in Atlanta. • U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson claiming that slaves were immigrants who worked hard and found success in America, without socio-economic relevancy or historical context. • The Trump administration claims those who resisted repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act were paid protesters.

Huff and Higdon argue that the ability to embrace dissonant facts is a skill set needed now more than ever, when inconvenient truths are labeled fake news. They argue that this state of affairs has resulted in a post-truth world. After laying this groundwork, Project Censored shifts to the Democratic National Convention and alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. From the start, Project Censored has made the argument that the Russian hacking narrative, propagated by the corporate media invested in Clinton’s bid for the White House, is an example of an alternative fact designed to deflect attention away from Clinton’s deficiencies as a candidate. Huff and Higdon cited The Washington Post’s story about the website PropOrNot, an organization purported to have uncovered the media outlets that served as dupes of Russian hackers with a series of algorithms designed to analyze the Web content of media outlets. Under threat of lawsuits, the Post published a lengthy editor’s note saying, among other things, that the newspaper “does not itself vouch for the validity of PropOrNot’s findings regarding any individual media outlet, nor did the article purport to do so.” Huff and Higdon’s choice to frame this chapter with the words of H.L. Mencken, Neil Postman and Morris Berman signals a dark place we’re entering. Though they offer prescriptions to heal American democracy and strengthen its citizenry, there’s an underlying pessimism in this chapter. At the conclusion of the Junk Food News chapter, Huff and Higdon ask, “Who will check the fact-checker and what criteria will be used?” Huff and Higdon note that fact-checking would not be enough to counter fake news. But fake news is not the only threat. Other threats include blacklists like the one used by sites like PropOrNot that include legitimate journalistic outlets as fake news, or the passage of legislation that literally bans the media from lying. Huff and Higdon noted that the corporate press has assisted in creating some of these new threats, such as the weaponizing of fake news. The pair acknowledged the daunting task of making these times and the nation more hospitable to a more free and democratic press. They write: “[T]he failures of the corporate media and education system have already contributed to the current post-truth environment by creating nothing short of an epistemological crisis. This has proven to be detrimental to our democratic process and an affront to the First Amendment rights of the American people. Creating the better world we envision will not depend on rewriting recent history to suit our purposes or flatter our illusions, but rather will depend on creating an ever more democratic, diverse, and critical free press.” We have more than three years to go with Trump at the helm, barring impeachment or another catastrophe befalling this country. Without some sort of progress on building critical media literacy, if there’s a hell below, like Curtis Mayfield said, “We’re all going to go.” Ω 11.30.17    |   RN&R   |   11

Hear tHe bells hat’s a holiday W season without an abundance of seasonal music? The tell-tale signs of winter celebrations include warm string instruments, triumphant horns, harmonious voices and

PHOTO/ERIC MARKS

perhaps a ballerina or two for good measure. It’s easy to spend every weekend after Thanksgiving attending a local orchestra, dance or choir performance in Northern Nevada’s many music halls and churches. This season, you’ll have no problem finding a mix of beloved classics and modern favorites. And the best part? Many of the shows are free.

Visions oF sugar plums

Dancers from A.V.A. Ballet Theatre rehearse for The Nutcracker, which opens on Dec. 8. at the Pioneer Center.

reno pHilHarmoniC orCHestra Family can’t decide between classic and modern, dancing and singing? The orchestra’s annual Spirit of the Season performance checks all the boxes and is a great way to kick off December holidays. Conductor Jason Altieri will lead the orchestra, along with guest artists from near and far, in three performances throughout the first weekend of December: Dec. 2, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Dec. 3, 2 p.m. Young ones will be excited to see Santa Claus on stage. The Reno Phil is also a vital component to the Christmas classic The Nutcracker, performed at the Pioneer Center by the A.V.A. Ballet

Theatre. It’s impossible to get through winter without hearing the familiar melody of the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Tchaikovsky’s score provides the essential atmosphere to the fanciful Bavarian story, and conductor Laura Jackson ensures that the orchestra is as lively as the ballerinas on stage. Children can meet the dancers after the afternoon shows during the Sugar Plum party. Shows are on Dec. 8 at 8 p.m., Dec. 9 and 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and and Dec. 10 at 2 p.m. Tickets and information:   renophil.com

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Family outing

reno Wind sympHony The Reno Wind Symphony will have two performances of its annual holiday celebration. Ross Mitchell, KOH Radio host, brings his familiar timbre to the event and will recite “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” Mitchell will also sing during the symphony’s rendition of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. For families with little ones, the Dec. 17 performance starts at 3 p.m. Those looking for

a romantic evening out can enjoy the Dec. 16 show from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Both performances will be at Nightingale Hall at the University of Nevada, Reno. You can get free tickets if you donate food to the Food Bank of Northern Nevada. Drop donations off at MacLean Financial Group, 1325 Airmotive Way #390, or at Heritage Bank, 2330 S. Virginia St. Bring one donation per ticket, up to four tickets. Tickets and information:   www.renowindsymphony.com

Brass tracks

tuba CHristmas ConCert This free, one-hour concert features holiday carols performed by local musicians on tubas, baritones and euphoniums. Bring a few bucks to enjoy the familiar classic carols with hot drinks and snacks. The show starts at 3 p.m. on Dec. 2 at the Wilbur D. May Museum. Information:   www.facebook.com/WilburMayCenter

Holiday music, cHoir and dance performances abound in december by Ashley WArren

Jazz Hands

peace on eartH

Reno Jazz oRchestRa

nevada Gay men’s choRus

The Reno Jazz Orchestra is wrapping up its 20th anniversary season with several holiday shows. In conjunction with the Pat Esters Gospel Choir, the group will perform Jazz for the Holidays, which brings together jazz, soul and Christmas music. The first two performances will be on Dec. 16 at 7:30 p.m. and Dec. 17 at 2 p.m. at Cargo in the Whitney Peak Hotel, and a Dec. 20 performance will be at Olympic Village Inn, Squaw Valley at 7 p.m. Tickets and information:   renojazzorchestra.org

Go for baroque

tahoe symphony oRchestRa It’s become a tradition for the Tahoe Symphony Orchestra and Chorus— nicknamed TOCCATA—to spread its holiday joy and talent throughout the region. This year, TOCCATA will perform classic German composer George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah.” The piece is an oratorio, which is a composition that combines an orchestra, a choir and soloists, not unlike an opera. As one can expect from Baroque composers, “Messiah” is a full and exciting work of music. Catch it in Tahoe on Dec. 9, 3 p.m., at Cornerstone Church in Incline Village or on Dec. 17, 3:30 p.m., at St. Theresa Catholic Church in South Lake Tahoe. In Reno, the performance is at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, Dec. 10 at 3 p.m. And a Gardnerville show is at 3 p.m. on Dec. 16 at the Douglas Community Center.

The Nevada Gay Men’s Chorus’s mission is to foster acceptance and diversity throughout the state, so it’s fitting that their winter performance is called Let There Be Peace. On Dec. 8, 7:30 p.m., the NGMC will perform an array of holiday songs from the classics, such as “Carol of the Bells,” fun and upbeat numbers like “Little Saint Nick,” and several new selections that have not yet been performed for the public. Tickets and information:  nevadagmc.org

cHurcH sonGs

tRinity episcopal chuRch There’s no shortage of beautiful churches downtown near the Truckee River, and the Trinity Episcopal Church makes for a stunning concert venue. If you’re not quite ready to let go of the holiday spirit, the Reno Chamber Orchestra’s Bach by Candlelight holds onto the last vestiges of Christmas with a beautiful, warm atmosphere and four Bach pieces performed by local musicians. With the new year right around the corner, you’ll still be able to revel in the holiday afterglow. Catch one of two performances on Dec. 27 at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. Tickets and information:  renochamberorchestra.tix.com

Tickets and information:  www.toccatatahoe.com

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by JOSIE GLASSBERG

Kate Raudenbush polishes her Transition Portal sculpture before its unveiling.

In transit Transition Portal Waiting in the dark for the lights to come on, Kate Raudenbush urged the small crowd on the side of USA Parkway to be patient. People had traveled from all over—mostly Reno and New York—to Storey County for the unveiling of Transition Portal, the New York artist’s 30-foot steel sculpture, a symbolic gateway to the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center, and, with any luck, a bright and harmonious technological future. “I want to wait for the lights— they should come on any minute,” Raudenbush said. They didn’t, so someone tripped the solar switch, and dozens of LEDs flooded the metal panels, causing a glowing hieroglyphic effect and collective crowd gasp. Commissioned by the Nevada Department of Transportation, “Transition Portal” is part doorway, part gothic cathedral, and part space station. It is flanked by two curving, rust-colored steel “wings” that reference Nevada’s mining history. The tiered doorway—made of cool, gray steel—emerges as a series of Fibonacci-spaced arches that bring to mind papal hats and giant phalluses. Raudenbush’s lacy, laser-cut designs cast source-code-like patterns on the rusty wings and light the piece from within, creating a portal that is imposing but legible. Literally, you can read the machine-cut petroglyphs like characters on a giant tome. The message? An origin-story-meetsfuture-prophecy that documents everything from the Big Bang and Mother Earth to all of humanity and technology It is a Big Piece. And to the artist’s credit, it avoids the sand traps that public art often succumbs to: bad design, bad execution, and the artistic equivalent of tokenism. 14   |   RN&R   |   11.30.17

PHOTO/JOSIE GLASSBERG

The first two pitfalls are cleared by talent and hard work. The last one depends on just how compatible the art and its environment really are. (Raudenbush is a Burning Man artist whose work could be seen as giving moral license to the technology park it is placed in.) On the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center (TRIC) side, a large-scale Burning Man sculpture is pretty on-brand. Dubbed the “next Silicon Valley” by TRIC rep Dean Haymore, Burning Man looms large over TRIC’s 100,000+ acre campus and its influential residents, who include Tesla, Switch and Google. A visual tie to Burning Man is one reminder for TRIC residents of the creative expression and sustainable transformation they aim for. For Raudenbush, Burning Man and technology are part of “the same playground.” Over the past 13 years, she has created 10 large-scale Burning Man sculptures that meet at the intersection between people, planet and technology—from her “Garden of Eden” lotus sculpture in 2007, now outside the Nevada Museum of Art, to the overgrown circuitry of “Future’s Past” in 2010, the artist has always found common ideological ground between art and tech. “I think it all starts with invention,” said Raudenbush. “Creativity and art take an enormous amount of original thinking and invention, and so does the tech world in its best moments.” Soon, a plaque will be installed underneath “Transition Portal” that reads, “A symbolic rite of passage to honor humanity’s transition to a sustainable and harmonious technological future.” It’s a strong message—and for a place that always has signal, a needed one. Ω

“Transition Portal,” is open to the public and is just inside the entrance of the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center on USA Parkway. To see more, go to www.kateraudenbush.com.

by BoB Grimm

b g ri m m @ne w s re v i e w . c o m

SHORT TAKES

4

“You’ve got to quit taking Ambien and then sleep-eating everything in the fridge, man.”

Fun with Dickens In 1843, when Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol, folks were just getting into that thing we call the holidays, with stuff like Christmas trees, gift giving and Cyber Mondays. (An iPad would cost, like, nothing on Cyber Monday in 1843 because nobody had invented the damn thing yet.) Dickens’s novel about a miserable miser named Ebenezer Scrooge, who transforms from an evil greed monster to a kind philanthropist throughout its five chapters, helped take the celebration of Christmas to a new level of tradition. The boldly titled The Man Who Invented Christmas spins an entertaining and clever take on how and why Dickens got the idea for the story that would change the world. Coming off a couple of flops after the success of his Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens (Dan Stevens) is doing clumsy book tours to pay the bills. Desperate for a “hit,” he gets an idea for a Christmas book, one in which a greedy man is haunted by ghosts of the past, present and future. The story is meant to be a cautionary yarn about the evils of selfishness, and perhaps less about the joys of Christmas and redemption. As Dickens gets further into his book—and his own psyche—the theme changes to one of hope, and his classic is born. Director Bharat Nalluri, working from a screenplay by Susan Coyne, based on the book by Les Standiford, gets the unique opportunity to tell the making of A Christmas Carol while, in some ways, making yet another version of the famed story itself. The film features Dickens conferring with the fictional characters in his story as he creates them, so we get an Ebenezer Scrooge, this time played by the great Christopher Plummer. Is it really any big surprise that Plummer is perfect for the role? Essentially playing a voice in Dickens’s head, the role affords Plummer the chance to offer up his own spin on the great line, “Bah, humbug!” and

he looks absolutely smashing in that sleepwear. While he doesn’t get much screen time—this is, after all, mostly a biographical depiction of Dickens—Plummer instantly joins the League of Great Scrooges. He’s right up there with Alastair Sim, Mr. Magoo and Henry Winkler. OK, Winkler played someone named Benedict Slade in An American Christmas Carol, but he was a thinly veiled Scrooge. Actually, I liked that movie but feel it would’ve been better if Winkler portrayed Scrooge as his alter ego, Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli. Ron Howard’s Richie Cunningham could’ve been Jacob Marley. OK, I watched too much damned Happy Days when I was a kid. Stevens, having a big year with this and his turn in Beauty and the Beast, portrays Dickens as a bit of an eccentric nut. As Dickens concocts the story in his writing room, he throws tantrums and has conversations with imaginary people. Stevens finds some humor in this but doesn’t stay away from the notion that Charles perhaps needed a long mental vacation. A touching subplot has Dickens dealing with major daddy issues as his penniless father (Jonathan Pryce) comes to town, causing trouble by trying to sell his son’s autograph and unleashing a pet raven in the household. Through flashbacks, we see that Charles’s adoration for his good-natured but scheming father led to a long stretch of sadness when his dad went to jail and he went to an orphanage—themes that obviously played out in other Dickens stories. The film suggests that Dickens’s forgiveness of his father led to the redemptive turn in A Christmas Carol. I don’t know if that’s based on fact, but I liked it in the movie. The film’s production value, which looks a little drab, keeps it from being great, but the performances help put it over the top. The Man Who Invented Christmas is a different kind of holiday movie. It’s not going to rank up there with Rudolph or Frosty, but for those of you looking for a deeper telling of a great fable, it won’t disappoint. Ω

The man Who invented Christmas

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Blade Runner 2049

Ridley Scott’s original sci-fi masterpiece Blade Runner came out in 1982—35 years ago. Scott has tooled with the cut of that movie numerous times, resulting in a final cut that was released about 10 years ago. While there was a lot of monkeying—in a good way—with the original, it didn’t seem there was much thought, or chance, for an actual sequel. The original was a box-office bomb and didn’t start gaining its classic status until a decade after its release. In fact, critics beat up on it a bit. Here in 2017, we actually do get a sequel, this time directed by Denis Villeneuve, the visionary behind Enemy and Arrival. (Scott remains involved as a producer.) Harrison Ford, who has classically moaned about the original movie, has, nonetheless, returned to play blade runner Rick Deckard. A terrific Ryan Gosling steps into the starring role of K, a new blade runner tasked with “retiring” older model replicants, the synthetic humans originated by the likes of Rutger Hauer and Daryl Hannah in the original. Other than the presence of Ford in the final act of the movie, and the vision of Pan Am and Atari logos still present in the Los Angeles skyline, there’s little to make this one feel like a standard sequel.

1

Justice League

Justice League is a full-blown, expensive mess where our favorite superheroes battle an apocalyptic force while two seriously different directors, Zack Snyder and Joss Weldon, battle with their filmmaking styles. It’s no big secret that Zack Snyder (who created two execrable duds with Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice) had to leave late in production. Joss Whedon (The Avengers) stepped in for post-production and major reshoots. The result is a catastrophe. The action picks up after the death of Superman (Henry Cavill), with Batman (Ben Affleck) still brooding while observing Gotham being invaded by bug-like alien creatures. It turns out they’re the envoys of Steppenwolf, the worst special effects/CGI bad guy you will see ever in a blockbuster. To do battle with the otherworldly forces, Batman calls upon the likes of Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), The Flash (Ezra Miller), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Cyborg (Ray Fisher) and a resurrected Superman. Gadot still rocks as Wonder Woman in her every moment on screen, and Miller makes for a fun Flash. Affleck seems a bit tired of the Batman role. Momoa is just a wisecracker Aquaman, and Fisher is dreary as Cyborg. Cavill’s Superman is marred by some bad digital work involving the removal of a mustache he had during filming. His face is all messed up. It’s time to scrap everything but Gadot and Miller, and start the whole thing over.

4

Novitiate

4

Mudbound

Great actresses do great things in this stunner from writer-director Margaret Betts. Cathleen (Margaret Qualley) joins a convent in the 1960s, right in time for the major policy changes affecting nuns in the Catholic Church to be made via Vatican II. She’s devoted, seeking to be married to God for eternity, but also seeking to escape a dreary childhood and her troubled mother (Julianne Nicholson). On her way to becoming a nun, Cathleen and her fellow sisters must contend with the fierce Reverend Mother (a scary Melissa Leo, playing one of the year’s best villains). Reverend Mother has a few problems with Vatican II, refusing to adopt some of its more lenient policies, and continuing to practice something more akin to fraternity hazing. Leo is a coiled snake in this movie, and her outbursts are frightening. The film is a testament to a nun’s faith, because a lot of the girls stick around even though the lady in charge is totally insane. While Betts does focus upon the hypocrisy of organized religion, she doesn’t shy away from the potential beauties of religion, either. It’s an interesting balancing act she pulls off.

Director and co-screenwriter Dee Rees paints a bleak picture of post-World War II Mississippi in this performance power-

house that showcases the talents of Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Clarke and, most notably, Jason Mitchell (Straight Outta Compton). After the war, a traumatized Jamie McAllan (Hedlund) returns home to stay on a farm with his brother Henry (Clarke) and wife Laura (Mulligan). Ronsel Jackson (Mitchell) also returns to the farm but, while both men were regarded as heroes overseas, their return is fraught with alcohol abuse for Jamie and rampant racism from town folks toward African American Ronsel. Henry and Laura have problems of their own dealing with the troubled Jamie and Henry’s hateful father, Pappy (a sinister Jonathan Banks). This is one of those movies that you know won’t end well, and while Rees allows for occasional moments of relief, it is a mostly somber affair with a devastating finish. Mitchell continues to emerge as one of his generation’s best actors, while Hedlund does perhaps his best work to date. Both actors put full body and soul into their roles and create characters that definitely leave a mark. The always reliable Mulligan is great as the wife forced to live out her life on a muddy, flooded farm in order to appease her dopey husband. Clarke paints Henry as a man of few commitments and quiet reserve, the kind of guy you can’t depend upon in a fight. (Streaming on Netflix during a limited theatrical run.)

3

Stranger Things 2

4

Thor: Ragnarok

The gang is all back, just one year later, for another round of ’80s horror and sci-fi nostalgia, and maybe they should’ve taken a little more time to let things settle in. The new season feels a little stretched out and undercooked at times. Will (Noah Schnapp) still sees visions of the Upside Down universe, the place he spent a good part of season one languishing in while his pals searched for him. It turns out Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), after her huge season one sacrifice going into the Upside Down, came back to our universe almost directly after, and is hiding out with Sheriff Jim Hopper (David Harbour) in a storyline that makes little sense. Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), in a shameless nod to E.T., has captured a creature in his garbage can, and feeds it Three Musketeers bars instead of Reese’s Pieces. Winona Ryder overacts while Paul Reiser basically replaces Matthew Modine as the scientist guy. Still, season two manages to maintain the charm that made the first season so watchable. (Streaming on Netflix.)

Somebody was smoking some laced wild shit and licking frogs when they put together Thor: Ragnarok, a film so nutty it easily surpasses the Guardians of the Galaxy films as the screwiest offering in the Marvel universe. When you hand the keys to the Thor franchise over to a director like Taika Waititi, you know you are going to get something bizarre. Waititi is the New Zealand comic actor/ director responsible for the hilarious vampire faux documentary What We Do in the Shadows and the funny family drama Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Borrowing from a host of Marvel comics, including the famed “Planet Hulk” storyline, the hallucinogenic plot drops Thor (Chris Hemsworth) on a crazy garbage planet bent on round-the-clock, violent entertainment and led by Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum, finally getting a high-profile role worthy of him outside of a Wes Anderson film). The Grandmaster cuts Thor’s hair, dresses him in gladiator gear, and throws him into the ring for a weaponized bout with his prized competitor. That prized competitor is the Hulk, held captive on the planet for the past couple of years. He’s been nothing but the Hulk the whole time, with Dr. Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) trapped inside him. Thor and Hulk have a battle royale for the ages, followed by some great scenes where the Hulk actually speaks. There’s a whole other apocalyptic subplot going on, where Thor’s long-lost sister Hela (a striking and devilish Cate Blanchett decked out in black) is causing major havoc on his home planet of Asgard. Blanchett immediately sets herself high in the ranking of Marvel movie villains. She’s played a baddie before, but never this entertainingly.

11.30.17 11.22.17   | |  RN&R RN&R   | |  15 15

OLD SCHOOL

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16   |   RN&R   |   11.30.17

INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM

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Independent Journalism Fund Show your support at www.independentjournalismfund.org

by Todd SouTh

Lit fuse I first heard the term “pork belly” in the 1983 film Trading Places, i.e. breakfast bacon. This pig bit has become trendy in the last few years, but a recent visit to Asian fusion restaurant Creazian presented more expressions than I’d had in a single meal. Pork belly pops ($9) started us off on a high note. These cubes of braised, fatty meat on skewers were glazed in maple and ponzu sauce. The sweet was matched with salt and spice, and the lightly crisped meat was tender and succulent. Next were orders of calamari ($8)—tempura-fried baby squid mantle and tentacle—at once tender and crispy, tossed in sweet chili, lemongrass, scallion and chipotle aioli. A dish of stir-fried chicken, mushroom and crispy noodles was served with leaves of iceberg lettuce to make lively chicken lettuce wraps ($6). Flavors of garlic, ginger, soy and a hint of fish sauce were enhanced by a side of cilantro and scallion. Next was a rice flour and turmeric crepe ($9)—banh xeo—stuffed with pork belly, prawn, bean sprout and scallion and served with a side of cilantro, basil and pickled daikon/carrot. Usually a light, savory dish, the crepe itself was sweet and quite oily. A pair of steamed lotus buns ($7) stuffed with braised pork belly, cucumber and pickled daikon/carrot possessed a near perfect contrast of flavors and textures. If you’ve got room for just one appetizer, don’t skip this. My sister-in-law’s banh mi sandwich ($7)—a French baguette with barbecue pork, Vietnamese pork sausage, cucumber, cilantro, jalapeño, pickled daikon/carrot and house spread—was just OK. The bread was nicely crusty, but the pork was a bit dry and included more than a few gristly bits. Her husband’s seafood noodle soup ($13)—pho do bien—with prawns, calamari, blue crab, veggies, egg noodle

Tonkotsu ramen at Creazian comes with pork belly, a soft-boiled egg, wood ear mushrooms, garlic chips and scallion. PHOTO/ALLISON YOUNG

and chicken broth was pretty satisfying. The seafood was tender, and the broth was hearty. A kid’s order of beef pho ($9) with rare steak, flank, brisket, veggies, rice noodles and beef broth was well received and quickly consumed. My bowl of tonkatsu ramen with soft pork belly, ajitsuke tamago (soft-boiled egg), wood ear mushrooms, garlic chips and scallion was close to being great ($12). The broth was rich, the fungi and meat plentiful, but the noodles were in a bit of a knot that required some disassembly. The egg yolk was a bit runnier than the jammy consistency I love with proper Japanese ajitsuke tamago, but still yummy. Our friend and her son ordered a pair of poke bowls ($12)—one salmon, one ahi tuna. The fresh, cubed fish was available on a choice of rice—brown or white—or organic mixed greens. Toppings included crab salad, seaweed salad, edamame, sweet onion, jalapeño, wasabi, chipotle aioli and ginger ponzu sauce. The fish tasted fresh, and the seaweed salad was quite good. A goi ga salad ($8) of thin-sliced chicken breast, cabbage, cilantro, basil, pickled daikon/carrot, crushed peanut and nuoc mam dressing was my wife’s selection. The fish sauce dressing was fine, but the chicken was dry and the shredded lettuce quite limp. I think this dish works best when the traditional cabbage is used for more crunch. Orders of lo mein ($11) for the niece and nephew were a hit, featuring thin egg noodles loaded with plenty of stir-fried chicken, pork, prawn, broccoli, bok choy and carrot. The veggies had crunch and the meats were tender. As it should be. Ω

Guitar Plaza | 9PM | Free Enjoy live music by DJ Rizzo.

Alpine Union Patio | 9PM | $59 Includes VIP access to Alpine Union Patio next to the firepits & an LED bracelet that syncs with the music on Guitar Plaza.

80s Dance Party Featuring Glam Cobra Vinyl | 10PM | $89 Includes an LED bracelet that syncs to the show & champagne toast.

Revolution Ballroom | 9PM | $189 presale, $249 Indulge in a gourmet buffet & open champagne bar while enjoying the variety act show featuring our Electrify burlesque girls.

BOOK TICKETS ONLINE

Creazian

425 S. Virginia St., 657-8135

Creazian is open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

11.30.17    |   RN&R   |   17

AUTHENTIC ASIAN FL AVORS WITH A TWIST O N L Y AT CREAZIAN

by MaRc TiaR

Bartender Marissa Gordon serves up a beer from behind the bar at the Elbow Room Bar in Sparks.

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The cool vintage neon sign outside the Elbow Room Bar in Sparks gave me the impression the place has been there since long before B Street became Victorian Avenue, since the corner of 20th and B was just a block south of the Lincoln Highway. As it turns out, the building and the bar do date from the 1940s, giving the retro look I’ve admired driving past for years some authenticity I’m glad to know about. Still, age doesn’t necessarily equal awesomeness, so after seeing an ad telling me the Elbow Room was celebrating its “Grand Reopening” on a recent Saturday, that seemed like the perfect time to go check the place out for the first time. While it’s been on my radar for a while, I just needed a nudge to get there, and this was it. Drink specials all day, a barbecue starting at 5 p.m., and a band playing later in the evening—I could see the Elbow Room in all its glory, people enjoying themselves, celebrating the place itself after some sort of remodel. Alas, the reality didn’t live up to my celebratory imagination. My dear wife agreed to join me for a drink before dinner, so we pulled up with few expectations besides those mentioned above. The banner hanging outside had downgraded the 5 p.m. barbecue to hors d’oeuvres. So be it, we weren’t there to eat anyway. There didn’t seem to be much of a party going on. It just looked like early on a normal Saturday evening, really. Maybe 10 people sat at the bar, Soundgarden on the jukebox, pool table and darts unoccupied, some sports on TV, drinking and smoking like any other neighborhood joint across the city. A fireplace and vending machine both sat cold and empty. It wasn’t obvious what

PHOTO/ERIC MARKS

sort of remodel had taken place; certainly nothing looked especially new or renovated to first-time patrons like us. We later learned that the now-white walls and ceiling were recently black, and a major restroom renovation had been done. We chose the bar over any of the empty cocktail tables, and a cheerful bartender quickly arrived to welcome us and tell us about snacks available at the end of the bar. Happy hour was allegedly still going, as well as the advertised “drink specials all day” for the grand reopening, but no specifics were given and nobody mentioned anything. I didn’t give a lot of consideration to the assortment of bottled beer, so we both ordered pints of the best draft option, Lagunitas IPA. I briefly considered Pabst since it felt like a cheap beer kind of place. A basic selection of spirits was displayed behind the bar, complete with a Fireball Cinnamon Whisky dispenser. There was also Ferrari-Carano wine and prominent signage proclaiming it $7 a glass, an oddly coincidental partner to the large stack of Eldorado napkins at the bar. While my wife made feeble attempts on the video poker machine in front of her, I took a curious pass by the hors d’oeuvres, finding Wheat Thins, CheezIts, and some pretty appetizing rigatoni and meatballs in a slow cooker. Even though dinner awaited, I couldn’t resist just a few nibbles. While the Elbow Room feels like an old man’s bar, the crowd skewed younger than I would have guessed. Social media and posted signs describe a pretty regular live music scene here. I’d call it a crossroads of old and new, working class, neighborhood rock ’n’ roll dive bar. Ω

Elbow Room Bar

2002 Victorian Ave., Sparks, 358-6700 Learn more at www.elbowroomsparks.com.

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11.30.17    |   RN&R   |   19

THURSDAY 11/30

FRIDAY 12/1

SATURDAY 12/2

214 W. Commercial Row, (775) 813-6689

SoDown (Big Gigantic Afterparty), 10pm, $5

Skyler Madison, Ghosts & Shadows, Grunge, Redrew, 10pm, $5

DJ Dan, 10pm, $10-$15

3rd Street Bar

Frank Perry Jazz Combo, 8pm, no cover

5 Star Saloon

Karaoke, 9pm, no cover

the BlueBird nightcluB

The Beat, 9pm, no cover

cargo concert hall

Big Gigantic, Brasstracks, 8pm, $26-$28

1up

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

Big Gigantic

Dance party, 10pm, no cover

Nov. 30, 8 p.m.  Cargo Concert Hall  255 N. Virginia St.  398-5400

ceol iriSh puB

Matt Bushman, 9pm, no cover

Lex White, 9pm, no cover

cottonWood reStaurant

Kelly Bentson and Jeff, 7pm, no cover

daVidSonS diStillerY

Band 11, 9:30pm, no cover

555 E. Fourth St., (775) 499-5549

255 N. Virginia St., (775) 398-5400 538 S. Virginia St., (775) 329-5558 10142 Rue Hilltop Rd., Truckee, (530) 587-5711

Comedy 3rd Street Bar, 125 W. Third St. (775) 323-5005: Open Mic Comedy Competition with host Pat Shillito, W, 9pm, no cover The Improv at Harveys Lake Tahoe, 15 Highway 50, Stateline, (775) 5886611: Liza Treygor, W, 9pm, $25 Laugh Factory, Silver Legacy Resort Casino, 407 N. Virginia St., (775) 3257401: Dom Irrera, Thu, Sun, 7:30pm, $21.95; Fri-Sat, 7:30pm, 9:30pm, $27.45; John Wesley Austin, Tu-W, 7:30pm, $21.95 Pioneer Underground, 100 S. Virginia St., (775) 322-5233: Justin Rivera, Th, 8pm, $10-$15; Fri, 9pm, Sat, 6:30pm, 9:30pm; $13-$19; Justin Rivera: Holiday Magic & Comedy Matinee (all ages), Sat, 3pm, $12-$15

MOON RABBIT CAFE

275 E. Fourth St., (775) 324-1917

Fat cat Bar & grill

Karaoke with We Ain’t Saints, 9pm, no cover

Fine VineS

Reno Classical Music Open Mic, 7pm, no cover

599 N. Lake Blvd., Tahoe City, (530) 583-3355 6300 Mae Anne Ave., Ste. 3, (775) 787-6300

headQuarterS Bar

3372 S. McCarran Blvd., (775) 825-1988

DG Kicks Big Band Jazz Orchestra, 8pm, Tu, no cover Sunday Takeover, 8pm, no cover

Karaoke, 9pm, W, no cover

Traditional Irish Session, 7pm, Tu, no cover

Open Mic Night, 9pm, Tu, no cover Big Heart Acoustic Show, 7pm, no cover

Gabe Plank, Dashel Milligan, Marshall Johnson, 7pm, no cover

YuleSteam Christmas Party, 8pm, donations requested

219 W. Second St., (775) 800-1020

hellFire Saloon

MON-WED 12/4-12/6

The Whiskey Haulers CD Release Party, 9pm, no cover Dance party, 10pm, $5

132 West St., (775) 329-2878

SUNDAY 12/3

DJ Yacub, 9pm, W, no cover

Line dancing with Ms. Judy & DJ Trey Valentine, 6:30pm, no cover

the holland project juB juB’S thirSt parlor 71 S. Wells Ave., (775) 384-1652

Dingbat Superminx, Long Hu, Dale, Arizona Young, 7pm, M, $5

Wild Wing, Blue Shirt, 42, 8pm, $5

140 Vesta St., (775) 742-1858

Abrams, Gravity Lord, 9pm, $4 Van William, 8pm, no cover

Sucka Punch, 9pm, $3

Dance Gavin Dance, Polyphia, M, $17 Karaoke Contest, 9pm, W, no cover

Crazy Town, 7:30pm, $15

the jungle

Outspoken Monday Open Mic, 7pm, M, no cover

246 W. First St., (775) 329-4844

lincoln lounge

306 E. Fourth St., (775) 323-5426

liVing the good liFe

1480 N. Carson St., Carson City, (775) 841-4663

Soul Night with DJ Andrew and guests, 10pm, no cover

sign

Canyon White, 6:30pm, Tu, no cover Jazz Jam, 7pm, W, no cover

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December 2nd 4-7pm

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MOON RABBIT CAFE

NW RENO (new location) 775-525-0549 1620 Robb Dr Ste C1 RENO 775-298-1678 6815 Sierra Center Pkwy #500 SPARKS (new location) 775-453-4389 2453 Wingfield Hills Rd Ste 110 www.clubpilates.com

20   |   RN&R   |   11.30.17

DINNER & A SHOW! TM

A Community Cafe

225 3/4 W Taylor St., Reno Volunteers needed!

moonrabbit@renobuddhistcenter.org

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MOON

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THURSDAY 11/30

FRIDAY 12/1

SATURDAY 12/2

SUNDAY 12/3

MON-WED 12/4-12/6

The LoFT

Magic Fusion, 7pm, $20-$40

Magic Fusion, 7pm, 9pm, $20-$40

Magic Fusion, 7pm, 9pm, $20-$40

Magic Fusion, 4:30pm, 7pm, $15-$40

Magic Fusion, 7pm, M, Tu, W, $20-$40

The Loving Cup

Jazz Night, 8:30pm, no cover

MidTown wine Bar

DJ Trivia, 6:30pm, no cover

Musicole, 8pm, no cover

Dane Rinehart, 8:30pm, no cover

Moody’s BisTro, Bar & BeaTs

Serina Dawn, 8pm, no cover

1001 Heavenly Village Way, S. L. Tahoe, (530) 523-8024 188 California Ave., (775) 322-2480 1527 S. Virginia St., (775) 800-1960 10007 Bridge St., Truckee, (530) 587-8688

MuMMers

Valentine Rodeo, 9pm, no cover

906 Victorian Ave., Ste. B, Sparks, (775) 409-3754

paddy & irene’s irish puB

906 Victorian Ave., Sparks, (775) 359-1594

Acoustic Wonderland, 8pm, no cover

Karaoke, 10pm, no cover

pigniC puB & paTio

MagNicoSynth’s First Friday Funk Fest, 10pm, no cover

The poLo Lounge

Ladies Night with DJ Bobby G, 9pm, no cover

235 Flint St., (775) 376-1948

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

T-N-Keys, 4:30pm, Tu, 7:30pm, W, no cover

Post shows online by registerin g at www.newsrev iew.com/ren o. Deadline is th e Friday before public ation.

The sainT

The Brothers Comatose, Huckleberry Road, 8pm, $16-$18

761 S. Virginia St., (775) 221-7451

shea’s Tavern

445 California Ave., (775) 657-8484

Live blues, 8pm, W, no cover ONOFF, Knocked Down, 9pm, $5-$6

715 S. Virginia St., (775) 786-4774

sT. JaMes inFirMary

Friday Nights at The Infirmary, 9pm, no cover

Saturday Dance Party, 9pm, no cover Ritual (goth, industrial, New Wave) with DJs David Draven, Rusty, 9pm, $3-$5

ToniC Lounge

Symmetry with Beau Kelly, 5657, Threofourz, 10pm, no cover

whiskey diCk’s saLoon

Hare of the Dawg String Band, 9pm, no cover

432 E. Fourth St., (775) 737-9776 231 W. Second St., (775) 337-6868 2660 Lake Tahoe Blvd., S.L. Tahoe, (530) 544-3425 27 Highway 50, Stateline, (775) 580-7221

Trivia Night, 8pm, no cover

Weltesser, Body Void, Dissidence, The Scattering, 8pm, M, $5

Blues Etc. Jam with Tony G & Friends, 8pm, no cover

sTudio on 4Th

XhaLe Bar & Lounge

Dec. 1, 8 p.m.  The Saint  761 S. Virginia St.  221-7451

Open mic, 7pm, W, no cover

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

1237 Baring Blvd., Sparks, (775) 409-3340

You Play Wednesdays, 8pm, W, no cover

Sessions, 8pm, M, no cover Steve DiNicola, 7pm, W, no cover

red dog saLoon

sparks Lounge

The Brothers Comatose

Trivia Night, 8pm, Tu, no cover

DJ Dan Dec. 2, 10 p.m.  1up  214 W. Commercial Row  813-6689

Vibe Friday: Rekoh Suave & DZ Beatz, 9pm, free for women until midnight

11.30.17    |   RN&R   |   21

RENO

11.30

ERL

AtlAntis CAsino ResoRt spA 3800 S. Virginia St., (775) 825-4700 1) Grand Ballroom 2) Cabaret

Boomtown CAsino

2100 Garson Road, Verdi, (775) 345-6000 1) Events Center 2) Guitar Bar

CARson VAlley inn

1627 Hwy. 395, Minden, (775) 782-9711 1) Valley Ballroom 2) Cabaret

Rise Against Dec. 5, 7:30 p.m.  Grand Sierra Resort  2500 E. Second St.  789-2000

FRIDAY 12/1

SATURDAY 12/2

SUNDAY 12/3

MON-WED 12/4-12/6

2) Atomika, 8pm, no cover

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

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

2) Cook Book, 8pm, no cover

2) Swinging Chads, 8pm, M, Tu, W, no cover

2) Jason King, 6pm, no cover

2) Paul Covarelli, 5pm, no cover The Look, 9pm, no cover

2) Paul Covarelli, 5pm, no cover The Look, 9pm, no cover

2) New Wave Unplugged, 6pm, no cover

2) Tandymonium, 6pm, M, no cover Jonathan Barton, 6pm, Tu, no cover Jason King, 6pm, W, no cover

2) Buddy Emmer Band, 7pm, no cover

2) Buddy Emmer Band, 8pm, no cover

2) Buddy Emmer Band, 8pm, no cover

2) Peter Joseph Burtt & The King Tide, 11pm, no cover

1) Collie Buddz, Jesse Royal, 9pm, $25

1) The Unbelievables Christmas Extravaganza, 5:30pm, 8pm, $29.95-$49.95 2) Ashley Red, 9pm, no cover

1) The Unbelievables Christmas Extravaganza, 3pm, 7pm, $29.95-$49.95 2) Ashley Red, 9pm, no cover

CRystAl BAy CAsino

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

eldoRAdo ResoRt CAsino 345 N. Virginia St., (775) 786-5700 1) Theater 2) Brew Brothers 3) NoVi

GRAnd sieRRA ResoRt

2500 E. Second St., (775) 789-2000 1) Grand Theater 2) Lex 3) Race & Sport Book

Karaoke

THURSDAY 11/30

1) The Unbelievables Christmas Extravaganza, 7pm, $29.95-$49.95

15 Hwy. 50, Stateline; (800) 427-7274 1) South Shore Room 2) Peek Nightclub 3) Center Stage Lounge

HARRAH’s Reno

219 N. Center St., (775) 786-3232 1) Showroom 2) Sapphire Lounge 3) Plaza 4) Convention Center

1) The Magic of Eli Kerr, 7:30pm, $32-$42

2) DJ/dancing, 10pm, $20 3) Arty the Party, 9pm, no cover

2) DJ/dancing, 10pm, $20 3) Arty the Party, 9pm, no cover

1) The Magic of Eli Kerr, 7:30pm, $32-$42 Essence, 10pm, $30 2) Reckless Envy, 8:30pm, no cover

1) The Magic of Eli Kerr, 7:30pm, $32-$42 Essence, 10pm, $30 2) Reckless Envy, 8:30pm, no cover

montBleU ResoRt

2707 S. Virginia St., (775) 826-2121 1) Tuscany Ballroom 2) Terrace Lounge 3) Edge

1) The Unbelievables Christmas Extravaganza, 7pm, $29.95-$49.95 2) Live Band Karaoke, 10pm, M, no cover DJ Logan, Tu, 9pm, no cover 1) Rise Against, Pennywise, 7:30pm, Tu, $35-$38 3) Buddy Emmer and guest, 8pm, Tu, no cover

1) Jonny Lang, 8pm, $35-$55 2) Melvin Seals & JGB, 8pm, $25-$30

55 Highway 50, Stateline, (775) 588-3315 1) Showroom 2) BLU 3) Opal

peppeRmill ResoRt spA CAsino

1) The Unbelievables Christmas Extravaganza, 2pm, 5:30pm, $29.95-$49.95 2) Ashley Red, 9pm, no cover

1) Sebastian Maniscalco, 8pm, $32-$73 1) The Nutcracker, 2pm, $26-$54 3) Grand Country Nights with DJ Jeremy, 3) Grand Country Nights with DJ Jeremy, 3) Grand Country Nights with DJ Jeremy, 1) The Nutcracker, 2pm, $26-$5410pm, no cover 10pm, no cover 10pm, no cover

HARRAH’s lAke tAHoe

Elbow Room Bar, 2002 Victorian Ave., Sparks, (775) 358-6700: Karaoke with DJ Toni Tunez, Tue, 8pm, no cover Jimmy B’s Bar & Grill, 180 W. Peckham Lane, Ste 1070, (775) 686-6737: Karaoke, Sat, 9:30pm, no cover The Point, 1601 S. Virginia St., (775) 322-3001: Karaoke, Thu-Sat, 7pm, no cover Spiro’s Sports Bar & Grille, 1475 E. Prater Way, Ste.103, Sparks, (775) 356-6000: Karaoke, Fri-Sat, 9pm, no cover West 2nd Street Bar, 118 W. Second St., (775) 348-7976: Karaoke, Mon-Sun, 9pm, no cover

2) Kid and Lisa, 6pm, Tu, W, no cover

2) Frankie Boots & The County Line, 2) Frankie Boots & The County Line, 7pm, no cover 8pm, no cover 3) Ladies Night with DJs Enfo & Twyman, 3) Latin Dance Social, 7:30pm, $10-$20 10pm, $20

silVeR leGACy ResoRt CAsino

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

2) Frankie Boots & The County Line, 8pm, no cover 3) DJ Spryte, 10pm, $20

2) Tyler Stafford, 6pm, no cover

2) Tyler Stafford, 6pm, M, Tu, W, no cover

1) Rodney Carrington, 8pm, $55.50-$69.50 2) Rock ’N’ Roll Experience, 9pm, no cover 2) Rock ’N’ Roll Experience, 9pm, no cover 3) Seduction Saturdays, 9pm, $5 4) MIke Furlong, 9pm, no cover 4) MIke Furlong, 9pm, no cover

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FOR THE WEEK OF nOvEmbER 30, 2017 For a complete listing of this week’s events or to post events to our online calendar, visit www.newsreview.com. CHRISTMAS ON THE COMSTOCK: Virginia  City’s Victorian-style holiday celebration  features festivities for all ages, including  Christmas craft fairs, photos with  Father Christmas, Candy Cane Express  rides on the V&T Railroad, the Christmas  in the Sierra concert with David John  and the Comstock Cowboys on Dec. 1,  the Parade of Lights on Dec. 2 and other  events through Dec. 17.  Fri, 12/1-Wed, 12/6. Free. Downtown Virginia City, C  Street, Virginia City, (775) 847-7500.

DOCUMENTARY FILMS ON HOMELESSNESS:  See Help at the Circle, a new short  documentary by Our Town Reno, and  #thisishomelessness, a new short  documentary by HW Marketing &  Community Relations, both about helping  end youth homelessness in Reno. The  screenings will be followed by an open  community conversation.  Wed, 12/6, 6:30pm. Free. The Potentialist Workshop,  836 E. Second St., (775) 784-4101.

GLOBAL GROWTH OF THE BURNING MAN NETWORK: As the Regional Network

The Quebe Sisters

12/02:

The trio layer three-part vocal harmony over threepart fiddle harmony and play the kind of starry-eyed,  old-timey Western love songs that they make might make you want to comb  some vinyl shops for an Andrews Sisters album. Sisters Hulda, Sophia and  Grace Quebe—rhymes with “maybe”—became a band in 1998, when they  were 7, 10 and 12, respectively, and released their first album, the allinstrumental Texas Fiddlers, in 2003. Now with three albums to their credit  and a fourth in the works, they perform at venues as humble as local gyms  and as high-profile as the Grand Ole Opry, as nearby as the National Cowboy  Poetry Gathering in Elko and as far away as small villages in Russia they’d  never heard of until the tour stops were announced. The Quebes are slated  to play at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 2, at Oats Park Art Center, 151 E. Park St.,  Fallon. Middle sister Sophia Quebe said the Fallon audience can expect to  hear a few tracks that will likely end up on the forthcoming album, such as  Willie Nelson’s “Summer Roses,” and a tune called “Lullaby of the Leaves,”  which first hit the charts in 1932. Tickets are $17-$20. Call (775) 423-1440 or  visit www.churchillarts.org.

EvEnTs 8TH ANNUAL YULESTEAM CHRISTMAS PARTY: High Desert Steam presents  its  annual Steampunk Christmas  party or “Yulesteam.” Please donate  unused toys and socks and hats for  seniors in return for vouchers, which  may be redeemed for raffle tickets at  the party. Donation bins will be placed  at the Melting Pot World Emporium  and Polyesther’s Costume Boutique.  Proceeds and donations from the party  will benefit disadvantaged children and  seniors living along the Reno-Sparks  Fourth Street Corridor through the  Christmas on the Corridor program.  Fri, 12/1, 8pm. Free. Headquarters Bar, 219 W.  Second St., (775) 378-0931.

15TH ANNUAL CHRISTMAS BOUTIQUE: The  event offers a variety of Christmas  gift ideas, including gift baskets, baked  goods, home décor and quilts, as well  as a silent auction and raffle.  Sat, 12/2, 1pm; Sun, 12/3, 9am. Free. Immaculate  Conception Catholic Church, 2900 N.  McCarran Blvd., Sparks, (775) 358-5977.

2017 SPARKS HOMETOWNE CHRISTMAS: The  event kicks off at 6:30pm on Dec. 1 with a  tree-lighting ceremony, followed by live  holiday music and free hot chocolate.  The 31st annual parade begins at  1pm on Dec. 2 with marching bands,  festive floats, Christmas costumes and  adorable animals all representing “The  Twelve Nevada Days of Christmas.”  The event also features pictures with  Santa Claus and a community fair with  information on how you can give back to  the community this holiday season.  Fri, 12/1, 6:30-7pm; Sat, 12/2, 11am-3pm. Free.  Victorian Square, 801 Victorian Ave.,  Sparks, (775) 353-7856.

Associate Director, Meghan “Megs”  Rutigliano is responsible for the  management of Burning Man’s Regional  Network. She will share her experiences  nurturing and supporting regional  groups around the globe and stories  of how Burning Man culture has taken  root in far-flung places, from Israel  to Argentina and beyond.  Thu, 11/30, 6pm. $8-$12. Nevada Museum of Art, 160  W. Liberty St., (775) 329-3333.

V&T CANDY CANE EXPRESS: The Virginia &

WINTER WANDERINGS: Join Tintabulations

Truckee Railroad offers its annual holiday  train ride. The Candy Cane Express  travels for 50 minutes over the 140-year  old V&T railroad route. Sip hot cocoa or  cider and enjoy cookies and candy canes  while singing carols and listening to the  1832 classic “T’was the Night Before  Christmas.”  Sat, 12/2-Sun, 12/3, noon & 2pm. $9-$19. F Street 1870 V&T Depot, 166  F St., Virginia City, (775) 847-0380.

WINTERFEST: The holiday event returns with  the Holiday Express Train, a custom,  narrated journey around the inside of  the stadium taking riders on a trip from  Reno to the North Pole to deliver Santa’s  Naughty and Nice List. Other highlights  include pictures with Jolly Old St. Nick  in Santa’s Village and ice skating at the  outdoor ice rink. Hours are 5-9pm on  Friday-Saturday and 4-7pm on Sundays,  Dec. 1-31.  Fri, 12/1-Sun, 12/3. $6-$15.  Greater Nevada Field, 250 Evans Ave.,  (775) 334-7000.

TAHOE FILM FEST: The festival features

POLAR EXPRESS TRAIN: Characters,  entertainment and Santa Claus bring  the holiday story to life, with a souvenir  silver sleigh bell to remember the journey.  The one-hour long rides depart from  the Carson City Eastgate Depot at 5pm,  6:30pm and 8pm on Thursday-Sunday  (and one Wednesday) through Dec.  30.  Thu, 11/30-Sun, 12/3. $36-$82. Carson  City Eastgate Depot, 4650 Eastgate Siding  Road, Carson City, (775) 291-0208.

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BURNING MAN: Harley K.  Dubois, a founding member of Black Rock  City LLC, will talk about the psychology  of Burning Man.  Sat, 12/2, 2pm. $8-$12.  Nevada Museum of Art, 160 W. Liberty St.,  (775) 329-3333, www.nevadaart.org.

VICTORIAN HOLIDAY TEA, TOUR & SOCIAL:  Join Arts for All Nevada at the Lake  Mansion for this holiday event featuring  tea, sandwiches and desserts, raffle  prizes and tour of the historic mansion,  which was once owned by Myron Lake,  one of the founders of Reno. Guests  are encouraged to dress in Victorianera clothes and hats. Reservations  are required.  Sun, 12/3, 3pm. $30. Lake  Mansion, 250 Court St., (775) 826-6100,  www.artsforallnevada.org.

OnsTAGE BUTTCRACKER 8—THE BIGGEST LITTLE BUTTCRACKER IN THE WORLD: Brüka  Theatre presents this parody based on  the holiday favorite The Nutcracker.  This new adventure has Clara and the  gang time traveling into a bizarre bend  on the history of Reno. Shows are on  Wednesday-Sunday, Nov. 30; Dec. 1-2, 6-9,  13-16, 20-23. Evening shows begin at 8pm  and the two Sunday matinees on Dec. 10  and 17 begin at 2pm. All tickets are $10 on  Artist Night, Dec. 6. The show is suggested  for ages 8 and older.  Thu, 11/30-Sat, 12/2, Wed, 12/6, 8pm. $10-$30. Brüka Theatre, 99  N. Virginia St., (775) 323-3221.

THE EIGHT REINDEER MONOLOGUES: Good

environmental film, American  independent films and new films from  Latin America, as well as a filmmaker  tribute. Screenings will take place at   Incline Village Cinema, 901 Tahoe Blvd.,  Incline Village; Northstar Village Cinema,  3001 Northstar Drive, Truckee; and  Truckee High School Auditorium, 11725  Donner Pass Road, Truckee.  Thu, 11/30Sun, 12/3. $12-$100. Various locations,  tahoefilmfest.org.

Luck Macbeth Theater Company  presents its holiday play in which eight  reindeer dish the dirt on the real Santa.  Performances are on Dec. 1-2, 8-10, 1416, 22-23.  Fri, 12/1-Sat, 12/2, 7:30pm. $15.  Good Luck Macbeth, 713 S. Virginia St.,  (775) 322-3716.

HEISENBERG: Amidst the bustle of a

I VITELLONI: Artemisia MovieHouse presents  a showing of the 1953 comedy-drama  directed by Federico Fellini. In Italian  with English subtitles.  Sun, 12/3, 6pm. $5-$9. Good Luck Macbeth, 713 S.  Virginia St., (775) 337-9111.

Handbell Ensemble for their holiday  concert.  Sun, 12/3, 7pm. Free. First  United Methodist Church, 209 W. First  St., (775) 750-8119, tintabulations.com.

mUsIC 40 YEARS OF KALICHSTEIN-LAREDO-ROBINSON TRIO: Apex Concerts continues its seventh  season with a visit by the revered  chamber ensemble. The trio will perform  the works of Beethoven, Brahms and  Dvorak.  Thu, 11/30, 7:30pm. $5-$30.  Nightingale Concert Hall, Church Fine Arts  Building, University of Nevada, Reno, 1335  N. Virginia St., (775) 784-4278.

CHRISTMAS IN THE SIERRAS: David John  & the Comstock Cowboys present  their annual holiday concert.  Fri, 12/1, 7:30pm. $15-$25. Piper’s Opera House, 12  N. B St., Virginia City, (775) 847-7500.

IT’S CHRISTMAS!: High Desert Harmony  Chorus, a member of Sweet Adelines  International, will sing traditional carols  and contemporary Christmas songs in  four-part a cappella harmony.  Mon, 12/4, 7pm. Free. Premier 5 Star Residences,  3201 Plumas St., (775) 722-2788.

WORLD MUSIC AWARD NIGHT: Traditional  Association for Cultural Harmony (TACH)

presents its fifth annual event.  Sat, 12/2. 6:30pm. $15. Center for Spiritual Living,  4685 Lakeside Drive, www.tach.info.

TUBA CHRISTMAS: All area tuba, baritone  and euphonium players are invited  to participate in this holiday event.  Registration begins at 12:30pm, followed  by rehearsal at 1pm and the free concert  at 3pm.  Sat, 12/2, 12:30pm. Free. Wilbur D.  May Museum, Rancho San Rafael Regional  Park, 1595 N. Sierra St., (775) 297-1654.

crowded London station, Georgie  spots Alex, a much older man, and  plants a kiss on his neck. This electric  encounter thrusts these two strangers  into a fascinating and life-changing  game. Simon Stephen’s play brings to  theatrical life the uncertain and often  comical sparring match that is human  connection. Performances are at 7:30pm  on Thursday-Saturday through Dec. 16  and 2pm on Sunday, Dec. 3, 10, 17.  Fri, 12/1-Sat, 12/2, 7:30pm; Sun, 12/3, 2pm. $12$15. Restless Artists Theatre Company,  295 20th St., Sparks, (775) 525-3074.

JACOB MARLEY’S CHRISTMAS CAROL: Reno  Little Theater presents its holiday  production based on the classic Charles  Dickens tale. Performances are at  7:30pm on Thursday-Saturday through  Dec. 16. Matinee performances are at  2pm on Sunday, Dec. 3, 10, 17.  Thu, 11/30Sat, 12/2, 7:30pm; Sun, 12/3, 2pm. $12-$25.  Reno Little Theater, 147 E. Pueblo St.,  (775) 813-8900, renolittletheater.org.

THE NUTCRACKER: Bay Pointe Ballet  presents its production of Tchaikovsky’s  The Nutcracker.  Sat, 12/2-Sun, 12/3, 2pm. $26-$54. Grand Sierra Resort, 2500  E. Second St., (775) 789-1115.

PEANUTCRACKER—THE STORY IN A NUTSHELL:  Sierra Nevada Ballet presents a  shortened, narrated version of the  classic holiday production.  Sat, 12/2, 2pm & 4pm. $6-$11. Carson City Community  Center, 850 E. William St., Carson City,  www.sierranevadaballet.org.

11.30.17    |   RN&R   |   23

by AMY ALKON

A good man is hard to fund

ERIK HOLLAND

24   |   RN&R   |   11.30.17

I’m a 35-year-old woman. I’m living with my boyfriend, who’s a freelance artist. We’ve been together for three years, and I am paying for pretty much everything. I don’t feel resentful. I feel like we’re a team and eventually his career will take off. However, my parents keep saying it’s a bad dynamic. There’s a term in risk researcher and former derivatives trader Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s books—“skin in the game.” That’s what’s missing when, say, a hedge fund honcho advises you to make some big-bucks investment. If he’s guessed right, he’ll share in your profits. However, any losses are all yours—as in, you’ll find him up in his penthouse, not two cardboard boxes down from your new “home” on the corner. “Skin in the game” is also what’s missing from your boyfriend’s end of the relationship. You’re doing all of the work to keep the roof over the relationship. Your boyfriend’s doing none of the work but reaping 100 percent of the benefits. This isn’t to say relationships have to be exactly 50-50. But such a gross asymmetry in effort may be creating a breeding ground for laziness—setting your boyfriend up to go all Leisure Larry in both his work and the relationship. In fact, by making things so easy for him, you may be making it harder for him to succeed. Consider that you put in more effort when it’s a necessity—when you don’t have inherited wealth or a 9-to-5-toiling girlfriend who allows you to live as if you do. Also, the fact that you’re a woman who’s paying for everything may make this more of a problem. Women evolved to seek “providers,” and men coevolved to expect that—and to expect the best women to hold out for investment. Men’s self-worth is also driven by their ability to provide. So, though many couples think they “should” be OK with a woman as the sole or primary moneymaker, it often leads to resentment in the woman and emasculation in the man. Finally, consider whether you really aren’t OK with this Vincent van No Job arrangement but are going along with it because you think it’s the good-girlfriend thing to do. It’s OK—and probably good

for your relationship—to ask your boyfriend to put “skin in the game,” like by driving a bunch of runs on Uber to fork over for the electric bill. People value and feel more a part of something they have to work for—and not just by opening all the bills before handing them over for the wage slave girlfriend to pay.

Weed better break up now I’m a 28-year-old gay guy. I like to travel and go out and do stuff on the weekends. My boyfriend prefers to smoke pot and, uh, time travel on the couch. He’s a good person, and I love him, but he’s unwilling to cut back on his pot smoking. Friends tell me to dump him, but we’ve been together for three years, and bailing now would mean throwing that time away. Presumably, you’ve tried to come to some compromise. It helps to be specific about what would work for you—like by proposing he come down from Weed Mountain to spend Saturday afternoon and evening out on the town with you. If he’s unwilling to be enough of a boyfriend to make you happy, well, you have a decision to make. In making it, don’t let yourself get tripped up by “the sunk cost effect.” This is decision researcher Hal Arkes’ term for our (irrational) “tendency to continue an endeavor once an investment in money, effort or time has been made.” But that initial investment—for example, the three years you’ve already put into your relationship with James Bong—is gone. What makes sense is looking at whether the “endeavor” will pay off in the future, say, in a willingness by your boyfriend to combine his favorite hobby and yours. As travel writer Rick Steves put it, “I have used cannabis all over the world.” (Hmm, then again, so have other people, and they’re still in jail in Turkey.) 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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doesn’t come too easily for you in the coming weeks. I’m worried you will meet with no obstructions and face no challenges. And that wouldn’t be good. It might weaken your willpower and cause your puzzle-solving skills to atrophy. Let me add a small caveat, however. It’s also true that right about now you deserve a whoosh of slack. I’d love for you to be able to relax and enjoy your well-deserved rewards. But on the other hand, I know you will soon receive an opportunity to boost yourself up to an even higher level of excellence and accomplishment. I want to be sure that when it comes, you are at peak strength and alertness.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): You were born with

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the potential to give the world specific gifts— benefits and blessings that are unique to you. One of those gifts has been slow in developing. You’ve never been ready to confidently offer it in its fullness. In fact, if you have tried to bestow it in the past, it may have caused problems. But the good news is that in the coming months, this gift will finally be ripe. You’ll know how to deal crisply with the interesting responsibilities it asks you to take on. Here’s your homework: Get clear about what this gift is and what you will have to do to offer it in its fullness.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Happy Unbirthday,

Gemini! You’re halfway between your last birthday and your next. That means you’re free to experiment with being different from who you have imagined yourself to be and who other people expect you to be. Here are inspirational quotes to help you celebrate. 1. “Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”—George Bernard Shaw. 2. “Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one’s mind.”—W. Somerset Maugham. 3. “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson. 4. “The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind.”—Friedrich Nietzsche.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): I suggest that you take

a piece of paper and write down a list of your biggest fears. Then call on the magical force within you that is bigger and smarter than your fears. Ask your deep sources of wisdom for the poised courage you need to keep those scary fantasies in their proper place. And what is their proper place? Not as the masters of your destiny, not as controlling agents that prevent you from living lustily, but rather as helpful guides that keep you from taking foolish risks.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In his book Life: The

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ARIES (March 21-April 19): I hope that everything

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by ROb bRezsny

Odds, Gregory Baer says that the odds you will marry a millionaire are not good: 215-to-1. They’re 60,000-to-1 that you’ll wed royalty and 88,000-to-1 that you’ll date a model. After analyzing your astrological omens for the coming months, I suspect your chances of achieving these feats will be even lower than usual. That’s because you’re far more likely to cultivate synergistic and symbiotic relationships with people who enrich your soul and stimulate your imagination, but don’t necessarily pump up your ego. Instead of models and millionaires, you’re likely to connect with practical idealists, energetic creators and emotionally intelligent people who’ve done work to transmute their own darkness.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): What might you do to

take better care of yourself in 2018, Virgo? According to my reading of the astrological omens, this will be a fertile meditation for you to keep revisiting. Here’s a good place to start: Consider the possibility that you have a lot to learn about what makes your body operate at peak efficiency and what keeps your soul humming along with the sense that your life is interesting. Here’s another crucial task: Intensify your love for yourself. With that as a driving force, you’ll be led to discover the actions necessary to supercharge your health. P.S. Now is an ideal time to get this project underway.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Here are themes I sug-

gest you specialize in during the coming weeks.

1. How to gossip in ways that don’t diminish and damage your social network, but rather foster and enhance it. 2. How to be in three places at once without committing the mistake of being nowhere at all. 3. How to express precisely what you mean without losing your attractive mysteriousness. 4. How to be nosy and brash for fun and profit. 5. How to unite and harmonize the parts of yourself and your life that have been at odds with each other.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): I predict that in the

coming months you won’t feel compulsions to set your adversaries’ hair on fire. You won’t fantasize about robbing banks to raise the funds you need, nor will you be tempted to worship the devil. And the news just gets better. I expect that the amount of self-sabotage you commit will be close to zero. The monsters under your bed will go on a long sabbatical. Any lame excuses you have used in the past to justify bad behavior will melt away. And you’ll mostly avoid indulging in bouts of irrational and unwarranted anger. In conclusion, Scorpio, your life should be pretty evil-free for quite some time. What will you do with this prolonged outburst of grace? Use it wisely!

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “What is love?”

asks philosopher Richard Smoley. “It’s come to have a greeting-card quality,” he mourns. “Half the time ‘loving’ someone is taken to mean nurturing a warmish feeling in the heart for them, which mysteriously evaporates the moment the person has some concrete need or irritates us.” One of your key assignments in the next 10 months will be to purge any aspects of this shrunken and shriveled kind of love that may still be lurking in your beautiful soul. You are primed to cultivate an unprecedented new embodiment of mature, robust love.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): You know that

unfinished task you have half-avoided, allowing it to stagnate? Soon you’ll be able to summon the gritty determination required to complete it. I suspect you’ll also be able to carry out the glorious rebirth you’ve been shy about climaxing. To gather the energy you need, reframe your perspective so that you can feel gratitude for the failure or demise that has made your glorious rebirth necessary and inevitable.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): In an ideal world,

your work and your character would speak for themselves. You’d receive exactly the amount of recognition and appreciation you deserve. You wouldn’t have to devote as much intelligence to selling yourself as you did to developing your skills in the first place. But now forget everything I just said. During the next 10 months, I predict that packaging and promoting yourself won’t be so #$@&%*! important. Your work and character will speak for themselves with more vigor and clarity than they have before.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): There used to be

a booth at a Santa Cruz flea market called “Joseph Campbell’s Love Child.” It was named after the mythological scholar who wrote the book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. The booth’s proprietor sold items that spurred one’s “heroic journey,” like talismans made to order and herbs that stimulated courage and mini-books with personalized advice based on one’s horoscope. “Chaos-Tamers” were also for sale. They were magic spells designed to help people manage the messes that crop up in one’s everyday routine while pursuing a heroic quest. Given the current astrological omens, Pisces, you would benefit from a place that sold items like these. Since none exists, do the next best thing: Aggressively drum up all the help and inspiration you need. You can and should be well-supported as you follow your dreams on your hero’s journey.

You can call Rob Brezsny for your Expanded Weekly Horoscope: (900) 950-7700. $1.99 per minute. Must be 18+. Touchtone phone required. Customer service (612) 373-9785. And don’t forget to check out Rob’s website at www.realastrology.com.

by KRis VAgNER

Chill out

to love myself and accept myself, which I had never done, in, let’s say, 40 years.

Does having had that experience allow you to help your students access that type of breakthrough, too?

Jennifer Wallis opened Sparkle Yoga  on Nov. 6 in a storefront with a  purple and turquoise interior—and,  yes, a glittery floor—at 465 South  Meadows Parkway. For information,  visit www.sparkleyogareno.com.

My specialty, I want to say, is gentle yoga. I definitely am offering that every single day—and restorative yoga. It’s using a lot of bolsters, a lot of props. It’s probably the yoga that’s got the least amount of exercise involved. It’s all about relaxing. It’s all about unwinding.

Why is gentle yoga appealing to you? What is really important for me, and why I do offer so much gentle yoga, is there are a lot of people out there who have not practiced yoga ever, or in a long time … and they might walk into a yoga studio and be intimidated. The word itself is intimidating. … The reason I brought so many gentle yoga classes on is that I want that newbie—or that person who hasn’t done it for a while—to walk in and see others who are just like them. … That’s the big thing. I want the studio to be open to anybody who is intimidated by yoga. I want Sparkle to just say, “Hey, welcome, everybody! No matter what age you are, no matter what you can or cannot do, please come here, and you’re fabulous.”

PHOTO/KRIS VAGNER

Every yoga studio has its own specialty or bent. What’s yours?

So, you have a story about yoga having played an important role in your life. Tell me about that. I had practiced yoga for about 10, 12 years myself. I thought it was great, but I was not relaxing. I used it as exercise. It didn’t really get to me mentally. … And then I stopped doing it. … This whole time I had a job, a corporate job, and I was successful. I was awesome. I purchased a house, and all these things were great, but I was very unhappy. … Finally, I ended up—long story short—losing the job, which was a blessing in disguise. I had no job, I had no money, and I got sad and more and more upset every day. … Then I went to a yoga class, and immediately something just clicked. That night, I started looking up teacher training. Then, I started my journey. I went to school. I dedicated a whole bunch of hours. I went to class. And, in that time, my life changed so dramatically. ... I began

Absolutely, because even if you’re just using yoga for exercise, it still speaks to you spiritually. I read quotes at the end of class. Maybe one of those quotes is going to resonate with you. … I tell my students, when they come in this room, “Give yourself permission to release, at least for 60 minutes. It’s all about you.” … We have a block in our heads, we’re stuck, in our heads, I mean all of us, hypothetically. And yoga really helps to clear that block—or to bring in clarity, and that’s what it did for me.

Do you have one of those quotes in mind that you’d like to share? I do. I have so many! I want to share two. One is by Louise Hay, and it says, “It’s only a thought, and a thought can be changed.” … And then the second one is by Thich Nhat Hanh, saying, “So many of us are comfortable in our own prisons.” We’ve built walls, and we complain, but here we are. … Sometimes we are more comfortable complaining rather than doing something about it.

Your studio is brand new. What do you want it to be like, eventually? I want people to walk in, and immediately I want them to feel good. I want them to feel the energy. I want them to be happy. I want them to love themselves. Ω

by BRUCE VAN DYKE

No Moore Just to give you an idea of what  a truly lame and shitty president  Trump is—not that that’s exactly  news—stop and consider this. He’s  such a total prick that he’s made it  possible for a freaking Democrat to  maybe steal a senate seat in Alafuckingbama! That’s how large of a  disaster Dum Dum is—Democrats  actually have a shot at winning a  Senate contest in what’s arguably  the most racist, redneck state in  America. Prediction—Doug Jones  will lose by four to six points, because many wretched neanderthal  Alabamans will eventually find the  rationalization they’re so desperately seeking in order to guiltlessly  vote for dirty old man Roy Moore,  which will be that most of the girls  Ole Roy was hitting on at the mall  are simply lying about him and his  creepy horny bullshit. As if facing  the media to talk about sexual assault is some kind of really fun and  pleasant thing for these women to

do so as to become momentarily  famous. Really, what could be more  wonderful than to face the media  and talk about being groped by a  lusty perv? Good times!   And if Dum Dum can put a Dem  in play in Alagoddambama, just  think what’s gonna happen in 11  months in states that aren’t filled  with KKKretins still fighting the  fucking Civil War? In states where  the semi-sane people outnumber  the mouthbreathers? We’re looking for nothing less than a total  trampling of villainous Republican  shitheads in November 2018. We  need to do to these Koch-sucking  invertebrates exactly what they  did to the Dems in 2010 after we  dared to install something as  dastardly unAmerican as national  health insurance. Just remember  that Our Base is a lot bigger than  Dotard Don’s (Him—35-40 percent  of America, Us 60-65 percent). As  the courageous Karen Fonseca of

Texas perfectly summarized on the  now infamous sticker in her truck  window—Fuck Trump and fuck you  for voting for him. (Now there’s an  olive branch for ya!) • Here’s yet another landmark moment in Presidential Racism, as  Trump hosted a visit from some  old World War II codetalkers, the  Navajo veterans whose native  language proved impenetrable to  Japanese spies. Trump used the  occasion to drop a pathetic Pocahontas slur, a stunning moment  of complete cluelessness. He’s so  mentally warped and bankrupt  that this ridiculous Pocahontas jab  was the only native reference his  diseased brain could blurt out to  these honorable Indians, and again  we see that this asshole is not even  fit to run a Sizzler. Good luck to  America. We really need it.   Ω

11.30.17    |   RN&R   |   27

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This publication was supported by the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health through Grant Number 6NU62PS003654-05-06 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health nor the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.