May 2017 Digital RTTV2

May 2017

THE CHENEY GANG: RUNNIN' RENO'S COOLEST STREET

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A PROBABILITY OF WORDS

10 ADVENTURETTE

MAY 2017 CONTENT

ART

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16 Stremmel Gallery

New Works 18 ART SOURCE BUSINESS 20 Barenuckle 22 BRITS 'N' PIECES 24 COMEDY

COVER STORY 26 The Cheney Gang: Runnin'

Reno's Coolest Street EVENT 38 Crawfish Boil Fundraiser FASHION 40 Zozobee Flexwear

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FEATURE 44 KYND Cannabis Company

- Part 3 54 The Sextones Debut CD Moonlight Vision - Part 2 60 Writing Rockstar 62 FREESTYLE 68 INCLINE VILLAGE

CRYSTAL BAY VISITORS

BUREAU REPORT 70 LACQUER LIFE 74 PHOTOGRAPHY RADIO 76 “Discover Music”

Station NV89

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82 RADIUS 84 REAL ESTATE 86 RENO STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

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88 SKATE NV 90 SLAM DRUNK SOBER 94 THE NEST 98 TRAINING TIPS

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Editor/Publisher Oliver X Art Director Chris Meredith Contributing Designers Courtney Meredith Tucker Monticelli Design Associate Courtney Smith Contributing Writers Amanda Horn Annie Flanzraich Britton Griffith-Douglass Debe Fennel Isha Casagrande Lanette Simone Tessa Miller Thomas Lloyd Qualls Contributing Photographers Alfyn Gestoso Anicia Beckwith Chris Holloman Digiman Studio Joey Savoie Kyle Volland Nick Sorrentino Marcello Rostagni Interns Gabriela Denne Sales 775-412-3767 Submissions renotahoetonightrocks @gmail.com Website renotahoetonight magazine.com All content, layout and design is the property of Reno Tahoe Tonight Magazine. Duplication or reproduction is prohibited without the expressed written consent of Reno Tahoe Tonight Magazine.

Copyright 2017. Reno Tahoe Tonight is produced on 10% recycled American paper and is printed with all soy and vegetable inks.

SNAPSHOT Photographer Craig Hansen Models Chris Perkins and Christin Perkins HMUA Andrea Hansen Wardrobe Zozobee Flexwear Location Pyramid Lake f/7.1 – 1/200 – ISO 320

A PROBABILITY OF WORDS Text Thomas Lloyd Qualls Photo Lynell Garfield

An Ocean of Dreams.

Beyond all things is the ocean.

- Seneca

L

ast night I dreamt of the ocean. In all its endless mystery. Of setting out into its wilderness on the journey of a lifetime.

Of being on a large ship, in charge of the mast, full of hope and courage. Buoyed by the adrenaline of adventure. And also feeling utterly ill-suited for the task.

What is it about the sea? Its vastness either provokes awe or makes us feel insignificant. Or some combination. Its perfect rhythms offer comfort, but they also drive home how little of this world is within our grasp. The ocean can wash us clean of our earthly cares or – with too little effort to measure – simply wash us away.

The ocean is also a mirror of our human hearts: wild, restless, unyielding, untamable, unknowable.

In that reflection there is both inspiration and terror. To admit that our own hearts are so uncharted, so unknowable, despite a lifetime of effort, is more than a little daunting. And also, we know we must continue to try.

There is so much that is beyond us. We cannot know all there is to be known, as we cannot count the waves on the sea. We cannot read all the books in the store, as we cannot love all the lovers to be loved. We cannot solve the riddles of our own hearts, as we cannot count all the grains of sand.

8 Reno Tahoe Tonight

He that will learn to pray, let him go to sea. - George Herbert We are in perpetual need of getting out of our own ways, of getting out of our own heads, of surrendering to that which we cannot know, of letting go of the rocks and the shore and letting the water take us where it will. This, too, is why the ocean calls to us. To share with us its wider view.

And to grant us reverence for the one wild and precious life we have been given.

Just as we have drawn imaginary lines to define nations and states, so we have created imaginary boundaries in our own lives, our own hearts and minds. And while some of these made-up borders allow us to get up, make the coffee, put on our shoes and go about our days, they also keep us from the natural human wandering that is required in order to rediscover the magic of just being alive.

Just as I was enthusiastic for a dream journey that I was also completely unprepared to take, so we walk out into everyday of our lives. We ignore the fact that we live in a world that is overwhelmingly designed for things with gills. Not to mention that even that vast world floats on an almost imperceptible wave of the universe’s unknowable

sea. Maybe it is because our brains can’t grasp the size of these mysteries that we ignore the greatness of this wonder as we stumble through each day. Or maybe we spend too much time asleep when we think we are awake.

All of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean. - JFK So continues the taunting paradox of the universe.

Perhaps it’s the ocean’s great size which makes it all the more poignant that we are both profoundly lost and found in its presence. Even in its memory.

There is not a thing in the world that does not feel the tug of the sea. Though it seems there are some of us more built for adventure than others. Some who have no choice but to seek out the sea. And still more who cannot be content to simply walk its shores and gaze on its beauty, but must be out in it, as close to part of it as humanly possible. And they cannot imagine any other life. They would not feel whole without it. So it is with our lives on land. Some of us are more willing to take the risk on our dreams.

The ocean is the great metaphor of unknowing, the great mystery, the divine feminine, the collective unconscious, the land of dreams. So a dream about the ocean is then a dream within a dream. A dreamer lost in himself. Out in a universe of fluid borders. Where we are free to dream new worlds into being.

Thomas Lloyd Qualls is a writer, a condition that is apparently incurable. He manages his condition, in part, by regular contributions to Reno Tahoe Tonight Magazine, to Rebelle Society, and to Wild Heart Writers. He's also a novelist, a sometimes painter, and through his law practice – a sometimes salvager of troubled lives.

You can find out more about him, his books, poetry, and other projects on his website. tlqonline.com.

Or at any of the absurd number of social media profiles out there these days. Feel free to check them out whenever you like. Or better yet, just invite him out for coffee or beer. He loves a good conversation.

An earlier version of this piece appeared at rebellesociety.com. © 2017 thomas lloyd qualls

Reno Tahoe Tonight 9

ADVENTURETTE Text courtesy of Adventurette Photos Brian Walker and Lauren McMillin

P

lanning a weekend away can be difficult.

Between researching activities, comparing prices, reading reviews and booking, it can become quite a laborious undertaking. At Adventurette Tahoe we “Turn ordinary occasions into extraordinary adventures.” We specialize in bachelorette parties, monumental birthdays and girl’s getaways to the Lake Tahoe area.

Adventurette takes care of organizing everything from lodging, activities, day trips and nightlife, down to dining and transportation.

Lake Tahoe is unique with the abundance and variety of world-class outdoor activities and a top notch nightlife to match. Winter offers skiing and snowboarding, cross country skiing, snowshoeing and snowmobiling. Summers are filled with endless activities such as hiking, mountain biking, boat charters, kayaking, SUP, rock climbing, ATV tours and horseback riding.

For our more indoor-adventurers, we offer spa packages, spin classes, mixology classes and relaxing beach retreats, amongst many other activities. Bachelorette parties don't have to skimp on the traditional fun during this adventure. We can arrange VIP bottle service at any of the local nightclubs for a 24/7 party.

Imagine waking up in your lake front condo at Lakeshore Lodge & Spa. Take some time to make Refuge Coffee in your full sized kitchen, and enjoy your brew with a view as your group gears up for a fun filled day of activities. This locally handcrafted coffee tastes as good as your day is guaranteed to be. You seriously don’t even need any cream or sugar--it’s that good! While you sip and prep, there’s no need to worry about being on top of each other. There is plenty of space in these condos for everyone to prepare for fun-filled day in Tahoe.

TURN ORDINARY OCCASIONS INTO EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES

Reno Tahoe Tonight 11

ADVENTURETTE

Lace up your tennis shoes, fill your reusable water bottle, load up the car to head over to Tahoe Club 100 for your “Bride Ride.” There, an Adventurette owner will let you into the private gym, and give your tribe customized gift bags full of a variety of goods. After the short meet and greet, your spin instructor, Tara Wallace, gets you ready for the ride with your own personal playlist. She is an amazing motivator, with fun classes. You’ll sweat, you’ll laugh, and if you cry, nobody will judge you. Her work outs are designed to push you and leave you breathless. And who doesn’t like to start the day off with a good sweat?

Once you’ve recovered (and showered) from your Bride Ride, head to Ski Run Marina to check in for your day on the lake with Tahoe Sport fishing. Since you booked through Adventurette, you are paid and ready to get your fish on. Your captain leads you to your fishing vessel and, before you know it, you’re out on the lake popping champagne. Enjoy some drinks, snacks, and the sunshine and get those fishing lines ready. You’ll easily lose track of time and forget what else you

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have to do that day. When people say there's nothing like being on that lake, they aren’t lying.

Fishing isn’t just for the boys anymore. You and your girls will love this different Tahoe attraction-that's a must do.

So now that you’ve caught all this fish, what are you going to do with it? Head into Riva Grill and enjoy a few pitchers of Wet Woodys and appetizers while the kitchen prepares your fresh catch. If the weather is nice enough, score a spot on their deck and enjoy the view!

After a long day of fun in the sun, we bet you’ll be ready to head back to your lakeside condo at Lakeview Lodge & Spa. Catch the sunset by one of their fire pits before you call it a night. Crawl into the cloudlike bed and get a good night's sleep.

You have another full Adventurette day tomorrow.

Tahoe isn’t the only place Adventurette Parties take place. If you are looking for something a bit more tropical, Adventurette can also plan amazing trips to Costa Rica, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic! We have partnered with Real Surf

Trips to give girls the adventure of their lives.

Everything is taken care of from housing, to activities, transportation (except flights) and meals. Enjoy an all-inclusive tropical vacation without having to plan anything!

Then we have our sporty girls who want nothing more than to enjoy of few beers at the ballpark.

Thanks to our friends down in San Francisco, Adventurette also offers “Gamer Babe� Packages, exclusively designed for you and your girls! We have a variety of packages from seats to suites and swag! The options are endless and it is guaranteed to be a hall of fame worthy party.

Adventurette Parties are designed to get women outside, enjoy a new activity or just simply take all the stress of planning out of the equation.

When you book with Adventurette the experience is seamless, simply pick everything you would like to do off of our menu, let us know how many girls are attending and how many days you would like your trip to be. From there Adventurette creates an itinerary and once the party is set, we book and reserve everything. So once you are here

everything is done and paid for and all that is left to do is enjoy.

We are so grateful for each party that has booked with us. To show our gratitude, we create custom gift bags for each girl in every group. The bags are always a little different, but usually include a face mask, lip gloss, Chap Stick, nail polish, snacks and even a little bottle of champagne!

Adventurette offers a variety of packages, so there is something for everybody to enjoy. We are excited to bring this new fun experience to Lake Tahoe; a chance to show off everything this gorgeous place has to offer.

If you're looking for an amazing time to celebrate that bride to be, birthday girl, or just want to plan a trip with your girlfriends, check out Adventurette and let us plan everything for you!

Book your adventure today online at adventurettetahoe.com or contact Adventurette at adventurettetahoe@gmail.com for more information.

Reno Tahoe Tonight 13

ART Special to Reno Tahoe Tonight

Bill Braun, Jerry Iverson, and John Randall Nelson at Stremmel Gallery New Works Exhibition Dates: May 11 - June 10, 2017 Reception: 5:00-7:00 p.m., Thursday, May, 11, 2017 - Free to the public

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tremmel Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new paintings by Bill Braun, Jerry Iverson, and John Randall Nelson, on view from May 11 through June 10, 2017.

The subject matters of the works include abstract, pop, and the playful. All three artists have been featured in multiple shows at Stremmel Gallery.

The artist reception will be held from 5:00-7:00 p.m., Thursday, May 11. Both the exhibition and reception are free to the public.

Bill Braun’s tromp l’oeil (French for “trick the eye”) paintings recall simple, childlike objects.

His works require closer inspection, as the appearance of crumpled paper, staples, pushpins,

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string, and colored pencils look to be low-relief collage, but upon further review, are discovered to be composed entirely of acrylic paint on canvas.

Braun has shown his paintings throughout the Pacific Northwest, as well as Stremmel Gallery.

Born in Long Beach, CA, Braun graduated from Reno High School before studying at University of Nevada, Reno and California College of Arts and Crafts, where he received his B.F.A. in 1978.

The abstract work of Jerry Iverson has been greatly influenced by the beauty and grace of Asian calligraphy. For the last 15 years, his materials have consisted solely of Sumi ink, paper, and rabbit skin glue. Iverson creates his collaged paintings by

Nelson, John Randall Hell Yeah acrylic on pane 24 x 38 inches

dipping paper marked with black lines of ink in glue. He then layers the paper onto board repeatedly, adding more brush stokes as he goes. The results are bold compositions of black lines on various shades of white, gold, brown, and gray. Previous marks are revealed through the dense and textured surface of the now translucent papers. The palette references the natural landscape surrounding the artist in Montana, while the stark and gestural marks ask viewers to reflect on the complex, and sometimes difficult, nature of life.

John Randall Nelson emerged in the mid-’90s as a painter and sculptor known for taking simple, bold, and instantly recognizable symbols and imbuing them with a sense of theater. His paintings often consist of a central image superimposed over a collage of icons and text (anything from art criticism to nursery rhymes). Through the constant reworking, sanding, layering and painting of the surface, the process of discovery and creation comes to the forefront of Nelson’s canvases. Based in Scottsdale, AZ, Nelson received his MFA from Arizona State University.

For more information, or to schedule a private viewing of the paintings, please call Stremmel Gallery at 775786- 0558. For a preview of works included in this exhibit, please visit stremmelgallery. com. Stremmel Gallery is located at 1400 South Virginia Street in Reno, Nevada, with gallery hours 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Mondays through Fridays, and 10 a.m. t o 3 p.m. on Saturdays.

Braun, Bill Great Blue acrylic on canvas 33.75 x 36 inches

Iverson, Jerry Darwin's Tree 4 6 sumi ink and paper on board 24 x 24 Reno Tahoe Tonight 17

ART SOURCE GALLERY Diversity & Service Affordable Timeless Vale.

I

n a world where everything is changing and the perception of value in shopping for art is getting the lowest price on the internet, we feel it is an important function of a gallery to maintain value. The internet can never replace the service, experience and knowledge that good galleries provide.

I have always felt that true values come from working with a quality gallery with a passionate staff that goes out of their way to create a memorable buying experience.

We are an established gallery with years of combined experience. Our goal is to offer homeowners and businesses moving to Reno and unlimited selection of artwork and framing at value prices. Value is different from low price. Low price often means low quality, knowledge, service.

We pride ourselves on being able to offer a vast array of original prints and etchings to inspire both the novice, as well as the seasoned collector.

We offer a comfortable atmosphere in which to acquaint yourself with our services. Our every day inventory includes Mexican Masters, Asian artwork, European etchings, Western scenes, and American landscapes. We also offer Abstracts and figurative artworks; anything a new home owner might desire.

We work with Sierra Arts and an array of local artists that allow us to provide art for projects such as Carson-Tahoe Hospital, Local banks and businesses where a reflection of local talent is desirable.

We offer artwork that will move with you, artwork that is timeless. We are not a trendy gallery. We're able to provide residential and corporate art from our own inventory. We offer a collection of images spanning over 50 years of important of important artists creative expression.

Visit our website at artsourcereno.com, the site Includes complete collection gallery, collector hints and tips and framing ideas and how-to's.

We feel buyers are getting back to basics, value, and timeless pieces; this is what we provide and Art Source.

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Art Source Gallery & Framing

2195 S. Virginia St. 775.828.3525

Hours: T - F 10am - 5:30pm Sat 10am - 5pm Sun Closed

BUSINESS Text Taylor Riedeman Pictured Ali Alden and Bill M. West

Bareknuckle: Taking the Gloves off for Reno-Tahoe Entrepreneurs “Running a business takes gusto; it takes brass,” says Bill West, owner of Bareknuckle Brand Marketing headquarted in Reno. West jokes, “We see all these ‘running a marathon’ bumper stickers, and that’s impressive, but I want to see ‘running a business’ bumper stickers, those are the real badasses.”

Bareknuckle is the punchy brainchild of Bill M. West and Ali Alden. The two local graduates (West from the University of Nevada, Reno and Alden from Truckee Meadows Community College) briefly worked in agency life before launching their own businesses, eventually merging their two businesses to create Bareknuckle Brand Marketing in 2015.

“Doing business in Reno-Tahoe and working in the mud with business owners, we realized something was missing when we were about to launch our new venture to support business owners. A lot of the clients we partnered with felt they’d been punched in the mouth by the 20 Reno Tahoe Tonight

agencies they’d invested in … and they could still taste the blood,” said West.

Attempting to cut through the junk and help business owners succeed, Bareknuckle hit the scene as a transparent, bold and ballsy resource for business owners to launch (or re-launch) blossoming brands.

Bareknuckle has clear, effective, no-bullshit processes for helping business owners solidify their brand and then use that brand as the basis for making growth decisions: “How can we improve our customer experience?” “What’s an employee on-boarding experience like?” “How do we handle customer dissatisfaction?” “What’s community give-back look like?” “What makes sense for our marketing plan?” “What SEO efforts should we invest in?” And so on.

“Many of our clients come to us with somewhat successful businesses. They’ve put in the sweat and never ending hours to create products and services

people want, but they have no brand to help sell the experience that makes them stand out,” said Alden. “They have something special and they want the world to know—whether their world is local, national, regional, or global.”

Bareknuckle operates in the understanding that branding touches everything and, when done right, can help businesses make smart decisions while distinguishing the difference between future opportunities and distractions.

“When your brand is clear and you have a team that knows your brand as intimately as you do, it boosts business confidence. Without a clear, powerful and defined brand, your business can operate like a pre-pubescent teenager who makes decisions based on emotion, has no apparent direction and is reactionary … it can get chaotic. People don’t like doing business with unpredictability; they want to be able to predict consistency and quality.”

Bareknuckle’s approach is rooted in partnership; they only work with ambitious business owners with integrity. They work with businesses whose products and services they believe in. The Bareknuckle team gets to know how the business owner plans to move forward, helps define clear goals and then matches the branding and marketing to those efforts.

“We talk with our clients very openly. We meet as often as necessary and understand what they are seeing as the ‘feet on the street.’ We remain flexible in our efforts in order to take advantage of opportunities we believe are worth exploring.

Every business is unique, so every plan we do is strategically crafted to fit that business. Different opportunities arise for different industries and businesses, so it doesn’t make any sense to try and plug a business into the same package as another client, ever.” said Alden.

Bareknuckle consists of a few departments— writing, design, strategy—that all work seamlessly in tandem to create the best final products. The team believes the strategy that goes into a product dictates the success of the final product, whether that be a print campaign, a series of billboards, a new website, a social media push, or a new line of branded swag.

“When we started Bareknuckle, we had multiple conversations with clients we’d worked with in our past ventures,” said West. “What we heard

boiled down to this: Clients wanted support, they demanded transparency and honesty, they wanted to be candid, they didn’t want their agency to also work with their competition, and they wanted their branding/marketing team to fight for them.

So, that’s the foundation we built the Bareknuckle brand upon. We don’t work with our clients’ competitors, we communicate clearly, we have up front discussions on pricing and what’s included and we work our asses off to help our clients succeed.”

As an additional support resource for business owners, Bareknuckle started Brewing Up Business, a weekly meetup where business folks get support and input from each other over delicious locally brewed beer. The group meets at a different Reno-Sparks brewery each week and gives professionals an outlet for meeting others who can help them work through issues, gain insight and tap into opportunities.

“Brewing Up Business, to us, is the best of what local networking has to offer. It’s not about how many business cards you can hand out in an hour or getting more followers on Twitter; it’s about finding deeper opportunities and deeper ways to work together. Plus, there’s beer, really damn good beer.”

Bareknuckle strongly believes in cultivating local talent, offering internships and employment opportunities to UNR and TMCC students.

They constantly work to improve their connection with these institutions, speaking in classes, meeting with students and taking part in different academic clubs and associations.

“All of us at Bareknuckle were once bright-eyed, eager students,” said West. “We had the fight and the vigor to go out and make a difference. People gave us a chance and now we’re returning the favor. Plus, I have yet to find an intern who has bested me on the Foosball table.”

On the wall when you walk into Bareknuckle’s offices hangs a series of framed work, their client “Hall of Fame.” The back wall reads, “Draw a Crowd. Stand Out in One.” That’s what Bareknuckle Brand Marketing does for RenoTahoe business owners. They gather a crowd, then they point out the best in it.

Taylor Riedeman is a writer and content nerd at Bareknuckle Brand Marketing. bareknuckle-branding.com Reno Tahoe Tonight 21

BRITTS N PIECES

Text Britton Griffith-Douglass Photo Jeramie Lu

MAY

FIRST BRIT OF EXCITEMENT “It’s May, it’s May, the lusty month of May!” Hear ye, hear ye! This Camelot musical show tune has never sounded sweeter and sexier than this May. We have been cooped up in a very long winter, endless snowstorms and even multiple floods. Alas, spring is here. Let the sun kiss your cheeks, give your ankles some air in flip flops, not snow boots, and get a little frisky around the May pole.

BITS THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE. Look, we both know that isn’t true. Gamble on some fun and go purchase your tickets to ‘Cash’d Out, A Tribute to Johnny Cash’ at the Crystal Bay Club Casino on May 11th, 2017. Now that’s the best thing money can buy. The ring of fire burns here: ticketfly.com/ event/76313.

LOVE THE SHAPE OF YOU. The more I think about it, I think Ed Sheeran’s songs are not about Taylor Swift, but rather the Reno Sculpture Fest. This incredible three-day extravaganza of music – and of course sculpture – brings life to the ReTrac Plaza in the Riverwalk District.

Time heals all wounds, but music helps.

Find out more about these sultry, shapely sculptures here: renosculpturefest.com.

WHEN EAST MEETS WEST, THEY MAKE MUSIC. No need for coastal jealousy here, Easton Corbin comes to the Biggest Little West Coast City on May 13th. He will have all the cowgirls swooning with his charming smile and hits like ‘A Little More Country Than That’ and tight Wranglers. I am boot scootin’ to the website to get my tickets faster than a prairie dog: grandsierraresort.com.

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A PAIR OF SHOES CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE. This phrase rings true whenever I go shopping and is a proven fact thanks to the greatest princess, Cinderella. This Disney favorite comes to the stage in Rodgers + Hammerstein’s, Tony Award®- winning Broadway musical on May 19th and 20th at the Pioneer Center. Call your Prince Charming and book your happily ever after evening here: pioneercenter.com. You can leave your wicked step sisters and boring sneakers at home.

LAST BIT OF ADVICE: Aw, my little kittens this column comes with extra claws and a loud Me-OW from Tokyo, Japan. I am writing with a warm cup of coffee and petting a Siamese in a kitty kafe. That’s right, this culture has created my feline heavenly place to write.

Also, it is a great reminder that the lusty month of May brings a lot of extra kittens to our Nevada Humane Society, consider adopting or fostering today and make your home your own personal purring paradise.

NevadaHumaneSociety.org.

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COMEDY Text Jenny PezDeSpencer Photo courtesy of Cargo

Doug Stanhope at Cargo inside the Whitney Peak Hotel March 25, 2017

They say the best comedy always comes from a very dark place that often ends in, or is at its best because of tragedy: Robin Williams, Richard Jeni, Chris Farley, Mitch Hedberg and John Belushi come to mind. When we comics get on stage, the whole audience becomes our therapist, paying us to make our sad, depressing lives seem more bearable. And for a moment, they make us feel better.

Doug Stanhope's appearance at Cargo was a makeup show for his previously sold out event last November. Stanhope's longtime partner, Bingo, had a seizure during her 40th birthday party and fell, hit her head and then went into a coma. “All her friends and family were already in town, who I didn’t want to talk to anyway, and now we were all staring at a half corpse in the ICU,” Stanhope recalls.

Stanhope never, ever cancels shows. It’s something he is well-known for in the industry. True to form, this is the topic he opened with to get the elephant out of the room, much like Joan Rivers did at her first show after her husband committed suicide.

The irony of this was that during Stanhope's Cargo show someone did collapse and had to be carried out, which was not lost on us or Doug, who then proceeded to joke about it. He told us 24 Reno Tahoe Tonight

that at this point in the show if we needed to use the restrooms, get a drink, text or heckle him, now was the time!

Most comics need to prepare the audience to get big laughs by putting people up first that aren’t as good as they are. One of the coolest parts of this show was that Stanhope was his own opener. He performed for about 25 minutes before bringing out Brett Erickson, and then again before Morgan Murphy, who both just killed their sets. Then Stanhope closed the show. That in itself tells you the kind of comedian and person he has become.

If you love comedy and have a bucket list and Doug Stanhope is not on it, then maybe you should just die now. I’m not just saying this because I'm a fan, I'm saying this because you will never see a more honest performance from anyone in this genre than you will get from Stanhope. He makes drug use, aging (it was his 50th birthday that night), horrible tragedy, depression and life shitting on you just a little more tolerable. In a world that seems to be going to hell in a hand basket, we need that now more than ever.

Jenny PezDeSpencer is a popular local comedian and longtime culture writer for Reno Tahoe Tonight Magazine.

Javier Chavira, El guerrero (The Warrior), 2004. Acrylic and crayon on paper. Collection of Bank of America.

Miradas: Ancient Roots in Modern and Contemporary Mexican Art, works from the Bank of America Collection This exhibition is provided by Bank of America Art in Our Communities program

→

On view through July 16

COVER STORY Text Oliver X Cover & feature photos Marcello Rostagni

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THE CHENEY GANG: RUNNIN' RENO'S COOLEST STREE T Reno Tahoe Tonight 27

COVER STORY

S

o much of our identities are wrapped up in our sense of place and belonging somewhere. And it's more than geography or even the specificity of a locale. It's what's internalized about a region, a city, a destination, a neighborhood—even a street. The manner in which your personality and imagination is amplified, engaged, inspired and stimulated by these places where we like to be.

PLACE My favorite third space, the place I feel most at home away from home and work, has to be Franklin Avenue, the northern most street in Hollywood, California between Gower to the west and Bronson to the east. This short strip of counterculture—just a half block really—boasts LA's coolest hangs: The Daily Planet a corner magazine stand on steroids; Birds where I sat at the bar with actor Roscoe Lee Brown and drooled over the long-legged supermodels dancing on the bar top above us; the Bourgeois Pig, a bohemian hipster cafe where a grizzled jazz man plays and sings ragtime era torch songs in broken French on a beat up piano; Counterpoint Books and the Tamarind Theater where, for a time, I kept an upstairs office that had a view of the gaudy Hearst mansion across the street that had been taken over by the Scientologists. The vibe was electric and the street seemed sentient. Cheney Street in Midtown is Reno's Franklin Avenue.

Cheney Street dead ends at South Virginia to the west and terminates at Kirman to the east.

But the coolness is clustered between South Virginia and Center Street, where, on this tiny block, a group of thirty something entrepreneurs have bootstrapped and enlivened the heart of

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Midtown. Ivan Fontana and his wife Sadie of Death & Taxes and Midtown Eats, Joe Marino owner of Blue Whale Coffee Co., Ryan Goldhammer and Trevor Leppek owners of Noble Pie Parlor and Radium Sulprizio and Clint Neuerburg owners of Piñon Bottle Co.-who jokingly refer to themselves as “The Cheney Gang”--are running Reno hippest block and kicking ass in the process. You'd be hard-pressed to find better coffee, comfort food, cocktails and culture than what Cheney street has to offer.

A BRIEF HISTORY It was not very long ago that the block was home to the music store and community institution Maytan Music, which was there for 40 years. The block got a boost when coffee king Mark Trujillo converted a mini garage into The Hub Coffee Company (now located on Riverside Drive) in June of 2009. Trujillo brought high industry standards and practices and a focus on great customer service and exceptional coffee roasted and served perfectly. Trujillo's delicious coffee, great energy and passionate personality helped him become the face of the block and the de facto mayor of Cheney Street. Trujillo anchored the artsy block, which also featured a jeweler and the popular arts and local craft shop Neverender.

The Hub was the magnet that first made Cheney Street cool.

DEATH & TAXES Things really started to pop when Fontana and his wife Sadie, owners of Midtown Eats, then located just up the way on South Virginia Street, opened Death & Taxes – Reno's finest craft cocktail bar – to critical acclaim in March of 2013. Death & Taxes, with its refined Gothic Victorian inspired all black décor (featuring gorgeous luxe leather black sofas, ornate chandeliers and a wall of fame liquor selection of rare and hard to find labels) quickly became the destination in Reno for upscale cocktailing and after hours swank. A snarky blurb in New York Times.com in 2013 about Midtown mentioned Death & Taxes, calling their drinks “superb” and the service “aloof ”--which only served to increase interest in the bar. Buzz

Ivan Fontana Death & Taxes

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Joe Marino Blue Whale Coffee Co.

COVER STORY Ivan Fontana: Definitely, I feel like the more people that move into the area, the more it drives revenue to the surrounding businesses. So it's an absolutely amazing little clique going on here.

Oliver X: You were one of the anchor tenants here. Why do you think the street has grown so much?

Ivan Fontana: We didn't know how crazy it was going to get. All we knew was that the Midtown area was hot and we were fortunate enough to get a couple of the buildings here to make this our home block. My wife comes from a graphic design background originally, but decided to make interior design her hobby. She's obviously a professional at it. She designed the interior of Midtown Eats as well.

Oliver X: Sadie has exceptional taste and is so gifted. Midtown Eats seems to be thriving and has the best mushroom soup in town! continued to build as USA Today.com ranked Death & Taxes #1 on its 10 Best Nightlife and Late Night Options in Reno list.

Ivan Fontana: That has been said many times.

[Laughter]. Midtown Eats has been growing at a very fast pace. It's been amazing.

The plaudits are much deserved, as Fontana concocts master crafted classic drinks and twists on old favorites. His current cocktail menu offerings are drool worthy: Roots to Branches is jasmine infused rum, novo fogo cachaça, strawberry cordial, yuzu, lime, and an egg white $12; Death's Mule is an allspice infused vodka cocktail, with rich demerara syrup, cio ciaro, lime and house ginger beer $12, or their Bonaparte with Henry Mckenna 10 year bourbon, peach infused cocchi bianco, house barrel aged amaro and cardamom bitters $12. Death & Taxes' house made tobacco bitters are all the rage right now and their focus on seasonality, procuring the freshest ingredients and produce possible for their cocktails is not lost on their discriminating clientele.

Oliver X: Does Cheney Street still have a capacity to grow?

I spoke to Fontana about the Cheney Street phenomenon.

Oliver X: There's a unique camaraderie amongst the business owners on Cheney Street.

Ivan Fontana: Definitely. There's plenty of opportunity here still. There are open spaces here on Cheney Street and the surrounding area will continue to grow.

BLUE WHALE COFFEE CO. Blue Whale Coffee Co. owner Joe Marino was born and raised in Reno and returned in 2011 after working at an artisanal coffee house in Bloomington, Illinois for years. He was selling life insurance when he approached The Hub's Mark Trujillo for a job to make extra cash. Marino knew Trujillo from when he was managing Swill and the latter was setting up and supplying Swill Coffee & Wine's coffee program.

“I go, 'Hey man, do you need anybody to pull shots? 'Cause I need some money,” Marino recalls. “And Mark was like, 'Yea, come on in, I got the spot for you.'”

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COVER STORY Working at The Hub was a whole new kind of experience for Marino. “Putting the community first and really trying to create a family vibe is Mark's ethos, and that's really what I try to do here.” Marino, who eventually acquired the place from Trujillo, arrived at the name Blue Whale Coffee in a rather odd way. He consulted a shaman who told him that his spirit animal was the blue whale. “The symbolism of the blue whale is love, family, honor, peace, persistence, patience and the ability to navigate heavy currents. The blue whale is the keeper of records, being one of the oldest animals on the planet. I paired that with a third space concept where you don't have any expected roles to play; when you come in everybody's on equal footing. I always wanted this to be a constant space for positive vibes. To grow yourself. For me this is a place of learning, whether my customers are learning about coffee or about themselves.”

The camaraderie on the block between all of the owners is refreshing to see. When Clint Neuerburg's roller door is open, Marino yells across to the beer aficionado and Neuerburg hollers back. “We even shout out, 'Cheney gang!'”

Marino jokes. “I had an art reception here and I got some stuff from across the street to offer my attendees after hours. Then the next morning, Clint came over and bought a couple gallons of coffee for his place. It's a good collaboration and we're sharing the love.”

Noble Pie Parlor Serial entrepreneurs Trevor Leppek and Ryan Goldhammer have been steadily growing their business empire from the ground up since 2011.

The two own and operate a host of eateries and nightspots: Pignic Pub & Patio, a bring your own bbq sports bar and venue in the Riverwalk on Flint Street; Monolith a hip college bar and gallery space in downtown on the ground floor of Arlington Towers and their original Noble Pie location on West Second Street. Goldhammer recently restored and opened the old Trocadero in the El Cortez last month. I spoke with Leppek about expanding their brand to Midtown in the building that once housed Maytan Music.

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Oliver X: What was the biggest factor in your decision to expand Noble Pie Parlor to Midtown on Cheney Street?

Trevor Leppek: I believe the biggest single factor was opportunity as well as timing. The 777 Center building owner approached us while they were still building it out as possible tenants. We felt the space, outdoor area and proximity was perfect for another Noble Pie Parlor. At the time we had no idea who our neighbors were going to be in the building but we already had Blue Whale and Death & Taxes across from us. Plus we knew Midtown Eats would also move across from us soon thereafter. Then we gained our neighbors next door Pinon Bottle who we already knew.

At that point we were convinced we would have a jumping, vibrant little street which would become a hub for the Midtown area.

In terms of timing it may not have been the best time for us personally as we have opened a new business about every 1.5 years since we opened the first pizza shop. Which means we have always been pretty much starting work on the next project after we finish the prior one. As the saying goes you have to strike when the iron is hot and we saw our opportunity to have a location in Midtown slipping away if we didn't act at that time.

Oliver X: What makes this street special for you as business owners?

Trevor Leppek: Seeing a full patio of happy customers eating and drinking with their families.

Then looking across and seeing the same thing happening at our neighbors during their hours of operation as well. Seeing a relatively empty street previously come alive with so much activity and creating a new environment for people to enjoy themselves. I also feel like it is special as there is not really a cluster of businesses as close together as we are in Midtown. Previously it seemed to be more spread out and that has helped to create the symbiotic relationship with our awesome neighbors.

Ryan Goldhammer and Trevor Leppek owners of Noble Pie Parlor

Radium Sulprizio and Clint Neuerburg owners of PiĂąon Bottle Co.

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COVER STORY Pi on Bottle Co. In high school in Carson City, while Clint Neuerburg and Radium Sulprizio's friends were drinking Keystone and Natural Light, the beer that did it for Neuerburg was Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. About ten years ago he started home brewing and that really got him into the craft beer scene.

Four years ago he went to Chuck's Hop Shop in Seattle where his business partner Sulprizio lives.

“It was the first place I'd been to that was a craft beer bar specifically for beer nerds,” Neuerburg recalls. “I thought, 'Man something like this would be so awesome in Reno,'” Fast forward to the present and the fruit of Neuerburg and Sulprizio's passion is Piñon Bottle Co., a place Neuerburg describes as an unpretentious working class bar. Piñon has a garage feel to it with its roll up door, exposed ceiling joists and duct work. The patio gets full on weeknights and weekends with people drinking and eating on the communal picnic tables they share with neighbor Noble Pie Parlor. They have a great selection of what Neuerburg calls entry level beers. “Even the novice beer drinker can come in and find something that they're comfortable with,” he emphasizes. “So it's not like you're trying to read some type of weird codex on the board that you've never heard of.

There's something for everyone. And that's an approach I really like. I mean we have some fancy pants high brow beer too. We have Hamms, we have Anchor Steam and we have Coors Light.

Sulprizio concurs, “We really have something for everybody, from higher end to lower end. We also don't cultivate an air of pretentiousness here.

“But everyone who works here behind the bar is at least a Level 1 Certified Cicerone,” Neuerburg adds. “We love turning people on to cool shit.”

we're down here, then we gotta make people want to come here and stay here, because nobody's going to drive to Midtown just to pick something up on the way home.

Oliver X: What makes Cheney Street work and why is it so cool as a destination?

Radium Sulprizio: I think having Death & Taxes there as a cocktail bar and then you have a beer bar and a pizza place. The diversity of the restaurant establishments that are here makes it easy to bounce from one place to another. You can go get a vesper or some kind of fancy cocktail across the street, but if you just want to hang out and get a beer and pizza this is a great option.

And we didn't plan on there being such symmetry here with Noble next door. We didn't know until we were ready to sign the lease what was going to go in over there.

Oliver X: What made you guys choose Cheney Street for your bar location?

Clint Neuerburg: We found out they were going in next door the same day we met with the owner about signing a lease here. It was just kismet. I really don't think there's like a specific thing about Cheney Street other than the luck of the draw that all of the businesses here are great. But it speaks to a broader extent that we're just off of Virginia Street; Saint Laurence is a half a block away; you can walk from here to all these dope places in this neighborhood within five minutes. We sort of benefit by being close to all of these other cool little pockets off of Virginia Street. People in Reno really like having a kind of destination neighborhood that's pedestrian friendly; that's open for business during the day; you can bring your kids and it's not going to be a hassle. But there's also going to be cool shit. It's not the mall, it's not the same stuff that's everywhere else. There's young professionals and college kids, and hip people in their twenties. All of these businesses are startups.

There's no fucking Subway.

Clint Neuerburg: To be honest, this was the last neighborhood I wanted to be in. There was so much down here already. But that first day we looked at it we decided to change the concept of the bar from less of a stop on the way home to more of a destination. SixFour Growlers was already open with their concept, so we thought if

Piñon Bottle Co. will celebrate their one year anniversary on Thursday, May 25, 2017. They're calling the party their own version of a bottle share. They're working with Great Basin and Dust Bowl a brewery out of Turlock to make at least two special beers that you can only get at Piñon for their customers as a thanks for their support.

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MEDICAL MARIJUANA OUT OF STATE PATIENTS WELCOME LOCALLY OWNED DELIVERY SERVICE

EVENT

2017 Niemeyer and Friends Crawfish Boil Fundraiser Saturday, June 3rd, 2017 Special to Reno Tahoe Tonight

T

his year we are honoring two children: Scarlett Bertolino and Jonathan Lopez. Scarlett Bertolino is 8 years old and was born with a rare epileptic encephalopathy. She suffers from catastrophic epilepsy, cerebral palsy, cortical vision impairment, gastroparesis and apraxia.

Jonathan Lopez is 10 years old and is a survivor of shaken baby syndrome.

He isdevelopmentally delayed, suffers from seizures, and is unable to walk or talk.

Let’s come together this year to raise money for Scarlett & Jonathan whose families are desperately in need of many things that insurance won’t cover.

• • • • • • •

T-Shirts- $15.00 • Raffle Tickets start at $5.00 Silent Auction Carnival Games for the Kids Adult Games Dart Tournament FREE CRAWFISH UNTIL GONE

Knucklehead’s Bar & Grill 405 Vine St. Reno, NV 89503 Saturday, June 3rd, 2017 starting at 2pm.

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Dreu Murin Productions

) 8

Photo by : Felicia Kaye Photography

Our ďŹ rst Monthly Model goes out to Tahoe Native, Lyric Amsterdam. At a young age her mother taught her how to work a sewing machine and to design her own dresses for school dances. In May of 2016, she became DMP’s very own costume coordinator. Lyric also has a passion for photography and is a model, promoter and dancer who can be seen at Opal Ultra Lounge or Lex Nightclub .

Dreu Murin Productions is the most diverse advertising, media entertainment and talent company in Northern Nevada. From creative advertising campaigns, promotional models, dancers, live bands and DJs, to corporate entertainment nightclub takeovers and showroom productions, DMP is sure to have the perfect recipe to spice up your business or event !

@ dreumurinproductions www.dreumurin.com

FASHION

Text Kytanna Prokosch Owner/Designer 3x NPC Bikini Competitor Models in regular swimwear: Casi Salo, Kira Fuqua MUA Faith Bee Models wearing competition suits: Tiffany Kolbet, Rachael Schryer, Holly Zlendick MUA Melina Leon Location Hatch Studio

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ZOZOBEE FLEXWEAR

Zozobee Flexwear is a custom high quality swimwear and fitness attire company.

We're committed to providing expert customer service while designing classy and sexy handmade designs. I've been sewing since my mom taught me at a young age. I started with fashion design in high school at RTI trade school and that pursuit blossomed into interior design. But after two semesters at TMCC they closed the course due to budget cuts.

In 2011 I did my first fitness competition.

I made my own competition suit not knowing what the rules were. I soon realized my suit was not up to par. I dug deep and perfected my skills through hard work and started Zozobee Designs in 2013 making children's clothes.

I competed again in a suit I designed in 2014, twelve months after my first child.

People loved my suit and word got out and business started to bloom. I changed the company name to Zozobee Flexwear and, after working out of my home for

the last couple of years, I'm excited and so proud to have opened our doors in January of 2017. My business manager, Tiffany Kolbet, recently competed in her first competition in April.

Zozobee has been expanding in the fitness industry with booths at fitness shows and appearances at regional fashion shows. We'll have a huge pop up shop for Night in the Country as well in July and are collaborating with many businesses this year – including Camie Cragg Fitness.

Our store front, open by appointment only, features our own popular designed patterns, with tons of in stock fabric and designs for our customers to choose from.

Zozobee is located at 1001 Pyramid way Suite #206 above Sparks Florist.

Contact us at Zozobeeflexwear@ gmail.com, ZozobeeFlexwear.com IG @ ZozobeeFlexwear Facebook.com/ Zozobeeflexwear Reno Tahoe Tonight 41

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FASHION

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FEATURE Text Oliver X Photos Chris Holloman Kynd Team: Mark Pitchford – CEO Kynd Michael Rognier – Head Grower Stacy Castillo – Operations Manager Scott Dunseath – Partner Kynd/Mynt

Cannabis Company Part 3

This winter, Kynd Cannabis Company in Sparks, Nevada was gracious enough to host our reporting cadre (consisting of columnist Shirley Larkins, organic grower “Skinny,” writer Gabriela Denne and I) for an extensive walk through of their grow facility. We pick up our story already in progress, as we move from room to room inside the 30,000+ square foot climate controlled converted warehouse space.

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Lighting Our organic guru Skinny, gives us a primer about what we are experiencing in the facility as we look at plants in various stages of maturity in their growth cycles. “In the 'veg' phase (pre-flower), they grow the plants to the height they want for the canopy, before they switch them to the 12 and 12 rooms to flower,” Skinny states. “12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. In veg phase the lights are on 18 hours and dark for six. Thus the term '18 and 6.' Certain strains grow taller than others, so they won't veg those up quite as high, or they'll do that super cropping with the plastic mesh that we see in those rooms, on the top of the canopy. This is what is meant by the terms veg side and flower side, describing different stages of plant development and husbandry.

“Kynd uses Gavita lights and controllers,” Skinny notes. “They're a smart light basically...A controllable ballast that's got a microprocessor in it.

They can control like 60 lights with one controller. Gavita lights even simulate sunset and sunrise. When they come on at 'sunrise' they come on slow and then at 'sunset'--before they shut off – they slowly ramp down, emulating nature.”

Temperature Skinny explains to me the importance of controlling the temperature in the grow rooms.

“A facility will constantly monitor the temperatures in their grow rooms,” he notes. “They try to keep the temperature below 80 degrees.

If the temperature rises to 85 degrees, there's a high risk of heat damage to the plants and the lights will automatically

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FEATURE

FEATURE

Skinny: And 70 something degrees, is that roughly the temperature you guys go with?

which helps our cooling units work better. It's hard to explain, but the more heat that goes into my cooling units the more humidity I pull out. We also run dehumidifiers in-line with the systems we're going to need a little bit extra to kick it up. But usually we control most of it with our AC units.

Mark Pitchford: We try to keep it anywhere from 68 to 74 degrees. Humidity levels we run 'em a little bit higher on veg than we do in flower.

Skinny: And being in the desert, isn't it kinda the opposite of if you were in say San Francisco, where you're dealing with a high humidity?

Skinny: Like 55%?

Mark Pitchford: To some extent. Like usually that comes into the purging. We purge each unit about for times a day.

dim in the room. The lights themselves are pumping out some pretty significant BTUs. If dimming them doesn't lower the temperature, fans will kick in and bring in new air.�

Mark Pitchford: 55%-65% on veg and flower sides we keep it below 52. And that's because of mold.

Oliver X: Is that a constant battle?

Mark Pitchford: Not here. We're really watching that the whole time.

You'll fail on microbes on your testing if you let that humidity get too high.

Oliver X: What's the carbon dioxide level that's optimal.

Mark Pitchford: We don't mess with it on veg side. But on the flower side we start anywhere from 800 and we run it all the way to 1500 parts per million.

Oliver X: And that's critical for you to keep it within those tolerances?

Mark Pitchford: We get about 20% bigger yield by doing that.

Skinny: Are you using propane burners or Co2 tanks?

Mark Pitchford: We use natural gas here that then runs into burners. Some people don't like to do that because it adds heat to the building. But we take that heat and run it into our units, 48 Reno Tahoe Tonight

Oliver X: What is purging?

Mark Pitchford: Purging is [when] we swap the air out.

So we take all the air and we take it all out of the building and bring in fresh air. Each room is individual, but if you had a high humidity down in the Bay Area and you purged, all of a sudden...

Skinny: You're bringing it in.

Mark Pitchford: Right.

Here we're able to have a lower humidity outside so it helps us a little bit.

We continue the tour and move into the next room.

Oliver X: What's growing in this room?

Mark Pitchford: We've got Gorilla Glue, Joe OG, which is one of our new strains. Good friend of mine who passed away a couple of years ago of cancer. He carried that strain for about maybe fifteen years...It's a pre '96 OG; Ghost OG we've had that one around forever, LA OG and Alien Dogs.

Oliver X: When you get this plant are you getting the seeds from that original strain?

Gorilla Glue 4 Reno Tahoe Tonight 49

FEATURE

Mark Pitchford: That one's all from cuttings that we've had for years. We just kinda keep those things going for years and years.

Mark takes us into another room.

Mark Pitchford: So this is a different type of room that we play with different kinds of lights in. Right now we're running LEC lights in here; we're practicing with those. Those are ceramic...

Skinny: Are those double-enders?

Mark Pitchford: No, well, this side is Gavita; this is a double-ender and these are ceramic. These are a 315 watt. A little cooler. Helps some of the profiles of the plant come out 'cause it's runnin' a little bit cooler. So similar to an LED, but not the same spectrum. LEDs we have coming in next week and we'll start mixing them around to see what's best.

Oliver X: Dumb question, but in layman's terms, what are the lights actually doing for the plant? Are they giving them UV rays, nutrition, what exactly?

Mark Pitchford: Yeah, it's nutrition, UV and things like that – but it's heat. Heat is a different thing. When you're playing with LEDs, there's no heat involved.

You either have to checker board it with another type of light to add heat to that plant, or you have to build the heat in the room. Personally we like to checker board it, so we're not relying on one source of light, because usually an LED hits the blue and red spectrum out farther and you miss the center spectrum. By mixing the two, we're brighter than the sun and we're covering more rays than the sun.

Oliver X: So better, faster growth?

Mark Pitchford: Correct—and bigger yields.

Orange Cookies 50 Reno Tahoe Tonight

Check in next month as we continue our tour of Kynd's grow facility. Be sure to visit Mynt Cannabis Dispensary, downtown Reno's only dispensary located at 132 E 2nd St, Reno, NV 89501. 775-538-6968.

FEATURE Text Oliver X Photos Chris Stanton

The Sextones Release Debut CD Moonlight Vision Part 2

In Part 2 of my conversation on the patio of Coffeebar in Reno with Mark Sexton and Alex Korostinsky of The Sextones, we look at their recording process and the unique ways they and their team are promoting their debut CD Moonlight Vision.

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Mark Sexton: We did a lot of recording in the five days we were at Prairie Sun. We laid down all the basic tracks: drums, bass, guitar and keys.

We didn't really have to touch any of that. But when we got home we just got into the vocals and all the ear candy. Alex and I would meet up one or twice a week for a year.

Oliver X: Where was this record mastered?

Mark Sexton: It was mastered by an old Renoite, Jared Hirshland. He works in LA at a studio called Elysian Masters and he'd just been part of a Grammy-winning album by Ziggy Marley, so he's doing great things over there mastering.

Alex Korostinsky: He mastered that Anderson.

Paak album. I think he's now a multiple Grammy-winning industry head—outta Reno!

He's my man. He mastered the Whatitdo Shit's Dope album; he mastered the John Whites. He does a lot of stuff for Reno guys. He's a good resource for us. And he didn't forget where he came from...

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FEATURE Oliver X: Back to the post production. Are you saying that you didn't lay vocals at Prairie Sun? Mark Sexton: We tried to and it was too important of a thing to try and do too quickly. So we'd lay down all the tracks and at the very end of the day, on the last couple days we like 'We gotta do all these vocals...' I don't any of them really made it onto the record. We wanted it to be perfect. And we just basically kinda had to reel it all in and just go, 'OK, we just spent time on each song...' We'd spend like a day or two days on each song for the vocal tracking and be like, 'What is the emotion of the song?' 'What is the attitude of the vocals?' And we'd have to record them with that attitude in mind the whole time. Rather than just going through the motions and singing it like you would live. Really putting yourself in the place of the song.

Alex Korostinsky: One of my mentalities with working on this and post production for so long was, this is our shot to put out the most badass record Reno's ever heard. And what that meant was like, 'What would Quincy Jones do?' 'Cause I think he's like probably the single most important producer of all time. And if he was in the room, I'd would want to at least have him nod his head, or sign off on what we were doing. 'Cause if we felt like he wasn't going to do that, then we knew that we had to keep searching for the right take, or the right idea, or the choice. We mixed it for a really long time. There were a lot of mixing choices that we had to make and we always asked ourselves, 'What would Quincy Jones do?

Oliver X: Off the Wall or Thriller?

Alex Korostinsky: Thriller for me because of the digital chimes. That alone.

Mark Sexton: Off the Wall for me because I like the songs better on Off the Wall. It's a little disco-y though. [Laughter].

Mark Sexton: That's a good question though Oliver. That's a really hard question.

Oliver X: I own both records and have worn them out. Then I saw a documentary on the making of Off the Wall and it's worldwide impact on music production. It really validated a lot of

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my instincts about the record. It's a masterpiece on so many levels. As is Thriller, but for different reasons. Quincy Jones brought in Stevie Wonder, Henry Mancini, Rod Temperton and the greatest musicians in the world to track that record. It gives me chills in my face. Okay, influences beyond Hendrix [and Quincy Jones] for this record?

Mark Sexton: The biggest one for us was we wanted to sound like a modern Sly and the Family Stone.

Alex Korostinsky: On Sly's early 70's stuff he was known for doing all kinds of remote recording sessions in different parts of the country. Super low fi, tape hissy stuff. He had this thing called the Maestro Rhythm King and back then it was one of the first drum machines that sounded somewhat like a real drum set. I love digital drum machines, so we got to kind of experiment with some old shit like that to give a nod to Sly and capture that essence.

Mark Sexton: That's probably the heaviest influence on this record, honestly. “Drunk Off Your Love,” “Push on Through,” “The End, even “Home Is You,” those tunes have that influence on them too.

Alex Korostinsky: There's also some Isley Bros.

Influence in there because of their production values. They've got dirty clean tone. You know what I mean? It's so hard to get perfect guitar tone, but they nailed it. I think on the song “The End,” we kinda nailed some of that Ron Isley sound.

Oliver X: On “The End” the mates roll out the Isley Bros T-Neck sound with ample helpings of “Papa Was A Rolling Stone” era Temptations basslines, ooh ahhs and vocal harmonies.

Mark Sexton: Yeah that song is the Isley song on the record. It was really cool at Prairie Sun I had this wall of amps I got to pick from. I got to have so much crazy gear at my disposal. I was playing all of these different guitars. I mean I barely played my own guitar. It was really cool having so many tonal options. I think we really explore a lot of territory that we may have been afraid to explore in the past with Mark Sexton Band

records. This one is kinda like, 'Fuck it; we're going to do it. We're going to be bold and we're going to do something that we're afraid of that's out of our comfort zone.

Alex Korostinsky: Names I could pick out of the hat as influences on this record...Curtis Mayfield, Steely Dan, D'angelo we've been a big fan of for years...Band of Gypsies, Lewis Taylor...Can I say that Curtis Mayfield's early work is some of the best songwriting I've ever heard in my life. And then when you get into his later shit, you're like, 'Oh my God, this guy is a genius!'

Oliver X: Switching reels a bit here, what role does place have in your lives as recording artists.

The second question is do you ever write new material just for the road, for the tour?

Mark Sexton: There's a few ways I can answer that.

Oliver X: First off talk about “place.”

Mark Sexton: OK. Reno, Nevada. One thing that I can say right off the bat is that we do a lot of touring. And when we're in a lot of these places, people invariably come up to us and say 'What's up with Reno? Why are there these awesome bands coming out of Reno? What's up with Jelly Bread? What's up with Whitney Myer? Even back in the day they would ask, What's up with Buster Blue or What's up with Keyser Soze? Reno has an amazing hold on the imagination. There's something special going on here for sure. There's some very talented people coming out of this area that people, music fans, are aware of and follow.

I think the friendly competition here makes everyone work a little harder. Whereas, we'll go to some big cities and be really surprised by the lack of know-how by some of these city bands that are in the same realm as us.

For the second part of your question, we have a really hard time writing when we're on the road.

It's really hard to find the time and place to stretch out and rehearse. But there have been some songs that we completed while we were on the road.

As far as festivals go, we don't intentionally write for festivals in mind. But we do organize the showmanship aspects of our set, the “show” part – which is what we are more and more getting

into lately. We have a show for certain festival dates. We write our show and rehearse our show depending on the venue.

Alex Korostinsky: When we were a lot younger I think it was easier for us to write mellower songs.

And we kind of faced the harsh reality that if we wanted to play bigger shows we needed to write more uptempo songs. Now our show covers all bases. We did need more variety. Most of the show is like a giant dance party now. We sprinkle in moments where you slow dance with your girl.

Mark Sexton: We learned the hard way when we would play a place and we wouldn't get invited back. We'd ask why and they would say it's because our songs were right for the atmosphere. You play bars long enough and it can kinda screw you up because you're so programmed, 'Gotta make people dance, gotta make people dance...' Then when it comes time to write a song, you gotta throw all that out.

Alex Korostinsky: A big question in this phase of where we are now with The Sextones is Mark and I truly paying attention to songcraft. Knowing what makes a hit song. Now part of the journey has been how we fully execute the best of this shit we're doing. We're more methodical now about the patience it takes to build a song and make it what it's supposed to be.

Oliver X: The Frank Oceans of the world are freaks who don't give a fuck about what it takes to make a radio record, they just create.

Mark Sexton: People will argue about formulaics and such, but then there's people like Frank Ocean, who break all the rules and it works.

Alex Korostinsky: Music is an emotional art form.

People feel it inside; that's why you get goose bumps when you hear certain songs.

Mark Sexton: For me it's hard to write when I'm feeling ambivalent about something. It's like I have to be on the highest high or the lowest low.

Oliver X: Do you ever write at rehearsal?

Mark Sexton: We try to.

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Alex Korostinsky: Sometimes...

Mark Sexton: We'd like to do that a lot more.

Jams, melodies and chord progressions can happen at practice, but the more difficult task would be writing lyrics in front if a group of people. That's hard to do. Writing something that's very personal on the spot is tough. Kinda like being pee shy.

Oliver X: Let's give a shout out to your team who's helping you with your tour and to position the record.

Mark Sexton: Shout out to Sidd Kalstrom and Jesse Dunn at Blue Sun Entertainment for basically having faith in us to have us be their starting block for their company. We started

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working with this booking agent Sidd, who's our homie. He was working at another agency at the time and he said, 'Screw it, I'm gonna do this on my own' and we were the band he started with.

Which was amazing. It's since grown into this big thing and all these other bands are asking us, 'How do we get on this agency?' And we're like, 'We were the first band on it!'

It was really funny we were playing a show, I forget where we were, and they go, 'Are you guys new on Blue Sun. How'd you get on Blue Sun?' And we go, 'We started Blue Sun!' We're super happy for Sidd and Jess Dunn of Dead Winter Carpenters who's working with him now. We have an awesome team of people helping us.

We're working with PR agency Press Junkie out of Austin Texas for the first time. They're hustling for write-ups for us. Something that we've never

FEATURE

done for any other album, but was something we knew we wanted to do on this album.

We are super excited. We have a ton of content we're going to release. Shout out to David Ware, Ford Corl and Shawn Sariti of the Reno Sessions.

Those guys won an Emmy and we were super stoked to be part of that whole submission when they did that. We have another video that is going to be released by them and we have another video that's like something Reno has never seen before that's going to be released here soon.

Alex Korostinsky: We're also doing something kind of kooky, which Press junkie is helping us out with. We have our own call-in hotline, called The Sextones Hotline. And the number is 1336-Sextone and you call it and you're greeted by an automated voice of a nice British woman.

Basically, this is how we're debuting the stream of the album, in its entirety, to the world. So you call in and it tells you: 'For this song press 1; for this song press 2'...And so you have to listen to the album on your fucking phone in mono.

[Laughter]. And we have tons of old vintage hotline advertisements.

Mark Sexton: We also have a video coming out where we have a choreographed dance and a shirtless Brad Bynum. Think about how dope that is going to be based on those two pieces of information. [Laughter]. www.thesextonesmusic.com

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FEATURE Writing Rockstar Special to Reno Tahoe Tonight

Erika Gillette

“It really de-stressed the process and released us from that, ‘did you do it yet, did you do it yet?’ dynamic. He became motivated and engaged in his college career and future because of working with her. I’d say that was a pretty big deal."

Assistance with application essays is the most common reason students seek outside help during the admissions season, but Gillette says she frequently guides students more broadly, from one-on-one ACT study lessons to helping them reach deep for personal motivation and long-term goals. “The coaching often ends up being so much more than just essay writing and college-picking,” she admits.

“It’s so rewarding—I often end up being involved on a day-by-day level to help find the right college match.”

Patricia agrees. “To be honest, even more important was how he found a good fit in the end. That ensures his growth. Erika helped him advocate for himself at the school he really wanted. That is huge.” Gillette says that more than three quarters of college applicants nationwide are admitted to their first choice school. “That statistic underscores how applying to schools that are a good fit is an essential part of the process,” she explains.

Summer Camp for College Applications Offers Relief and Expert Guidance May 1 is “Decision Day” for college-bound high school seniors, the day when most colleges require applicants to make a commitment to attend. In addition to celebrating, seniors will be relieved to have the admissions process finally behind them. However, for juniors, the pressure is just beginning to build towards a feverish race in the fall. Erika Gillette has been advising Reno/ Tahoe students in this process for about three years through her academic coaching practice at Writing Rockstar, and she has seen how much time it can take. “The process is an enormous amount of work for both the students and the families,” she says.

Happy clients share what a difference collegebound coaching can make. “My son became accountable to meet his own deadlines, which relieved us from constantly having to circle back,” Patricia, a recent client at Lake Tahoe, said about her family’s experience with Writing Rockstar.

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44% of American high school students continue directly to a four-year college after they graduate, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, and apply to an average of ten colleges and universities each. To complete each application by its deadline, students might draft essays, complete online forms, arrange transcripts and test scores, prepare an academic resume, request recommendation letters, and arrange on-campus interviews.

“The summer before senior year is really the right time to get started,” Gillette concedes, which is why she’s launching a series of summer programs in Reno to assist families in completing the entire Common Application before the first day of school even arrives.

Students can take one week out of their summer to spend five full days completing the various elements of the Common Application in small groups led by Gillette. “Think of it like College Applications Boot Camp,” Gillette laughs.

“With essays instead of push-ups.”

For more information about college planning and the new series of workshops, visit writingrockstar.com.

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FREESTYLE Photographer Joey Savoie Models Megan Saenz and Jenna Peterson Hair and makeup Jenna Peterson

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FREESTYLE

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FREESTYLE

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INCLINE VILLAGE CRYSTAL BAY VISITORS BUREAU REPORT Text Annie Flanzraich

I

t's officially shoulder season in North Lake Tahoe — arguably the best season to visit and enjoy its many activities.

From water sports to a moment of Zen, the north shore offers festivals and tours for every taste. Here are five picks to check out this month: Experience Whitewater Rafting on the Truckee River The Truckee River is still bursting after a precipitation-filled winter, which means it’s perfect for whitewater rafting. Tributary Whitewater Tours offers a guided 7-mile, half-day guided whitewater adventure. Rafts can typically accommodate groups of up to six people, ideal for families, youth groups, corporate groups, and bachelor/ette groups. Find out more and book a trip at northtahoeactivities.com.

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Tour the West Shore by Kayak For a more mellow ride, check out Tahoe City Kayak's tours of the west shore where participants paddle alongside historical homes and beautiful scenery. During the trip, knowledgeable guides will share stories about Lake Tahoe and some of the West Shore's landmarks. Visit northtahoeactivities.com to find out more and book a tour.

Visit the Castle in the Sky George Whittell's legendary Thunderbird Lodge is legendary for a reason — the views, the architecture, the grace … OK maybe more than one reason. Explore this famous home and its history with an informative, docent-led tour. Tours begin May 23 and a portion of the proceeds benefit charity. Find out more and book a tour at northtahoeactivities.com.

The Darling Buds of May Five Ways To Enjoy North Lake Tahoe This Month

Cycling around Big Blue The wheels around the lake go round and round, especially during Women's Stage 1 and 2 of Amgen Tour of California from May 11-12. Participants will begin their race in South Lake Tahoe and travel around the lake. For more information or to volunteer, visit gotahoenorth.com.

Om and Ah Granlibakken Tahoe will host the first annual Restorative Arts and Yoga Festival from May 19-21, featuring more than 12 workshops led by local Tahoe yoga instructors, healers and professionals. Enjoy classes in therapeutics, energy working, yoga, guided meditation and metaphysical teachings. Visit gotahoenorth.com to buy tickets and learn more.

Bonanza History on Display Spend some time with the Cartwright family at a special exhibit featuring memorabilia and artifacts from the television show “Bonanza.”

The show, which ran from 1959 to 1973 was filmed in Incline Village. An exhibition celebrating the show's 14 seasons and 431 episodes will be on display at the Incline Visitors Center beginning Memorial Day. The collection is presented by Thunderbird and Incline Village resident, Chuck Greene, son of Lorne Greene, the Canadian actor who played Ben Cartwright.

Get out and explore a spring’s day in Tahoe, which is more lovely and temperate than any other.

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LACQUER LIFE Text Shannon Dunlap Photo Chris Holloman

Whats Your Type?

As promised, I will let you in on the hottest trend in nail polish color this Spring. You should wear this color and this color only. The color is...

Whatever the fuck you want. Wear that color!

Note to reader: I curse when I speak and when I write. I do. This you should know about me. It’s not classy, it’s not refined and it isn’t reflective of the Bachelor’s degree in English I hold from U.C. Davis. Every. Single. Time. I find myself rewriting to make my writing “nice.” Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am free with my words – both the fancy and foul. My apologies if my verbiage offends. You don’t have to read my work. If accused of having a lack of command of proper vernacular, I acquiesce and diffidently agree. Back to the polish…

Please tell me you remember the 1980’s bestselling self-help book Color Me Beautiful.

If not, let me remind you of it’s philosophy. The goal was to find your color type and learn what colors look best on you. To do this you went to a “color expert.” Said color expert would perch you on a stool, layer a bunch of color swatches near your face and “type” you. It felt kind of like a canvas being painted by a master.

kidding me? This was devastating news to me.

I really really wanted to be a Summer. I liked bright colors (The Summer Palette).

Alas, I was a fashion soldier of the 80s (hair included) and I did as told. I stuck to wearing soft, perfectly, pretty pastels and peach lipstick.

For years. This was totally contrary to the awesome neon Madonna was wearing in the “Borderline” video. Madonna didn’t give a shit about her type, but I did. No offense Color Me Beautiful, but for the better part of the 1980s I wore the colors you told me to – even though I hated them. My fault not yours. Still, I blame you. Just a little.

So what does this type talk have to do with nail polish? In my opinion, everything! Quit looking at trends. Wear what you want. Try a wild polish, then take it off and two weeks later try something simple. Or don’t. If you have worn the same nail color for years and you love it, and it makes you feel amazing. Wear that.

“The industry” tries to tell you what to wear because that sells more polish. Guess what?

You don’t have to listen. If you love following and wearing what is new then do. If you like matching your nails to a new outfit then do that.

Wear glitter; or don’t. Wear black nails in the Summer and rock pale yellow in the Winter.

Who cares? The point is, you don’t have to be a type. When you pick a polish that makes you feel wonderful, then you have picked the right color.

You being perfect, beautiful, wearing whatever color you want... You is the hottest trend ever and that will never go out of style.

The painter-color expert would bounce forward and back adding just another touch of blue or remove that red until, voila, you were “typed.”

You became a Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall.

If you were typed a Fall, for example, you were to only wear the array of colors in the Fall category.

I was typed Spring. Spring? Are you fucking 70 Reno Tahoe Tonight

Shannon Dunlap

2PM - 5PM • 5:15pm Raffle A Portion of the Proceeds Benefit ART SPOT RENO.

$20

Happy Hour from 3pm - 6pm ¡ Monday through Friday enjoy complimentary Charcuterie along with $1 off any of our beers on draft, $2 off Specialty Cocktails, $4 Wells and House wine!

PHOTOGRAPHY Photographer: Michael Lindberg Camera: Pentax K-1 Lens: Tamron 28-75mm f. 2.8 Focal Length: 55mm ISO: 100 Shutter: 15 sec Aperature: f 14

HYMNAL OF HOPE “This image centers around Lake Tahoe's famous Bonsai Rock. If one would have visited this location in November or December of 2016 the rock would have been surrounded by a multitude of exposed boulders due to the low water conditions.

Curious how much the lake had risen due to a barrage of winter storms, I showed up to this location on the last Sunday in March and was shocked how much the shoreline had disappeared in a matter of a few months. It has been several years, maybe four or five, since I have seen this rock at the current level.�

RADIO

NO COMMERCIALS. LOCAL BANDS.

Text Oliver X Photo Frank Haxton Digiman Studio

YOUR GENERATION’S PUBLIC RADIO. Nevada Public Radio Launches New Commercial Free “Discover Music” Station NV89 76 Reno Tahoe Tonight

M

illennials have been listening to music streaming apps and sites and sourcing music on a dizzying array of platforms for what seems like forever now. And for many, terrestrial radio has already gone the way of the cassette tape and the flip phone.

But there's a new northern Nevada radio station that hopes to stem the exodus from terrestrial radio and win ear shares and the short attention spans of a generation that was weened on digital downloads and Spotify. Enter Nevada Public Radio's NV89, a commercial free, member supported public station on the far left of the FM dial bent on championing emerging artists and Nevada musicians. Streaming on NV89.org, NV89 programming is headed-up by popular Reno on-air personality Willobee Carlan, who pulls double duty as Music Director and Afternoon Host. Carlan's track record as a “worst to first” radio whisperer is well-chronicled.

His legendary broadcasting career highlights include pioneering New York's infamous WLIR and building Shamrock Broadcasting's suite of stations KRZQ, POPFM, Z105.3 and KNEWS as Director of Broadcast Operations. Carlan brings the requisite instincts, industry connections and bona fides to make NV89 a player in the northern Nevada market.

The On-Air Team

Carlan has assembled an impressive on-air team of well-known industry veterans for NV89 that includes Jake Wagner, Malayna Joy and Gia DeSantis. Wagner (Evening Host), a musician, tour manager and stage manager, was the very first Music Coordinator for the Indie-Alt-EDM festival Life is Beautiful in Las Vegas. University of Nevada Reno graduate Malayna Joy (Morning Host) is a familiar voice and face in Reno from her days behind the mic on Reno's venerable adult album alternative station The X 100.1FM and in front of the camera on FOX 11. Gia DeSantis (Middays) put the “World Famous” in “World Famous KROQ-LA,” the powerhouse SoCal station that has served generations of modern rock listeners. DeSantis, who was a music correspondent for the E Channel, currently hosts the podcast “Cocktails in the Kiddie Pool,” but readers might remember her for her work way back in the day as the host of Request Video.

Playlist

NV89's playlist can be called eclectic, but it's easy on the ears and far less DIY than college radio

sounds. I recently heard one of Carlan's Saturday afternoon sets that included “Fire” by Barns Courtney, “Cold Little Heart” by soul crooner Michael Kiwanuka, Bowie's “Sue” (“Or In a Season of Crime”), “In Cold Blood” by Alt-J and “Shine” by Mondo Cozmo. One morning during Malayna's set I even heard “Bullet and a Target”

by Citizen Cope, one of my all-time favorite artists. And at the time of this writing, I've heard the likes of The Decembrists, Alabama Shakes, Kings of Leon and Mumford & Sons on NV89, along with several cool hip-hop tracks. Fans of stations like Seattle's KEXP and Santa Monica's KCRW will be thrilled with NV89.

Carlan is aware that NV89 may not be everybody's cup of tea. “You know what they say about the weather in Reno? If you don't like it, wait ten minutes. As a radio station, we're kinda like that...Ya know, if you hear something that you don't like or that is unfamiliar, wait five minutes 'cause the next song's gonna getcha.”

Local Focus

Mixed into the pot every hour is a song by a local artist from Nevada (or even Sacramento), which should make emerging artists gleeful, since the gates of commercial radio are typically closed for unsigned artists. Local notables like Moondog Matinee and The Sextones have already received airplay, and Carlan says the station has been flooded with local music for their growing catalog of emerging artists, since word got out about NV89's community music focus—something they've affectionately termed “the local 891.”

NV89's commitment to emerging artists goes beyond their airwaves. Carlan has a plan in the works to spearhead gig swaps, where northern Nevada bands play on shows with Las Vegas bands in southern Nevada and in turn, Vegas acts will play here in northern Nevada with our regional artists. Something that will go far toward uniting the music scene statewide.

I spoke to Carlan last month shortly after NV89 launched, to talk about the station that has everybody buzzing about the possibilities.

Oliver X: What differentiates NV89 from traditional terrestrial radio?

Willobee Carlan: With NV89, we've already negated the top two reasons why people gave up listening to the radio. We know from all the research we've done in the business over the Reno Tahoe Tonight 77

RADIO

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NV89 group from left to right: Jame Wagner, Malayna Joy, Gia DeSantis and Willobee Carlan

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RADIO years, that the number one reason people don't like listening to terrestrial radio is commercials.

Too many commercials. Well, we don't have commercials. We have underwriting grants that we will be talking about, but we don't have eight minute commercial blocks. We'll have like a minute where we'll say, 'Underwriting is provided by so and so.' We're not allowed to play commercials with our particular license.

The second reason people have turned away from radio is repetition. At this early juncture, we want people to get a taste of what our sound is like, so there is some recurrence. But as our song catalog continues to expand, we feel we will be able to address this factor...We want to bring back disenfranchised radio listeners. So far so good!

Oliver X: You've said that NV89 is a dream scenario for you. How so?

Willobee Carlan: It's everything I always wanted to do on radio. First, I love being involved from the ground up. So it's a start-up situation just like Shamrock was, where I got to create five radio stations—which was a lotta fun. I love the challenge of creating something new. It's an art form for me. It's a passion, building these libraries of sound. I like the idea of creating another station from scratch. I also like the fact that it's going to be very broad musically. Our tag line is 'Discover Music,' so I was very excited that we would be a station that would think outside the box. A station playing music that most radio stations wouldn't.

And then of course, the fact that we don't play commercials—that we're a non-comm—was icing on the cake. So I'm like, 'Wait a minute, so we get to play all this amazing music and we don't have to stop for commercials?'

Oliver X: 24-hour music...

Willobee Carlan: Yes, with the exception of one hour a day where we have a news talk program that emanates from Las Vegas called State of Nevada. So, with the overall vision for what this radio station was supposed to be, I couldn't find any down side. It was a win-winwin-win situation.

Oliver X: Why did you decide to add local music to your playlist when so many stations 80 Reno Tahoe Tonight

avoid that like the plague? Are any other non-comms doing this?

Willobee Carlan: There are other non-comms throughout the country that [radio consultant] Mike Henry has been involved with. At his first suggestion of spotlighting local music, I was a little concerned because Reno is a small market and the talent pool is smaller than a major market.

If we were in San Francisco or if we were in LA—even Las Vegas—the talent pool is much deeper for unsigned indie local bands. But he explained how successful it had been with a lot of the other stations he had consulted. So, I had a counter proposal. I said, 'Okay, since this radio station is going to cover the entire state of Nevada, we should open up the local music avails to include everybody within our broadcast footprint.' That made the pool that much deeper. We can take from regions like Sacramento. We've got tons of music from Reno, from Las Vegas. We'll play music from Elko—wherever. We're starting to get music from Los Angeles but we're saying, 'No thank you, this is really about Nevada. You got your own radio stations in Los Angeles and if they're not playing local unsigned music in LA, sorry...This is a Nevada centric radio station. We gathered as much music as we could before we signed on without tipping our hat to all these bands. We signed on with about 25 local and regional bands; we call it the local 891—it's like a union badge. But about a week ago we started getting hit up by local bands and now I can't even count how many bands have been asking us for airplay. We play a local track every hour—with the exception of the news hour—and then we have World Cafe every weeknight from 10pm to midnight. World Cafe is a syndicated program through NPR, produced out of Philly with a long history of over 25 years at least. It's on 200 noncomm and NPR affiliated radio stations. And it wasn't carried here in the market. So we go 'Wow, what an opportunity – because we're a music discovery station—let's carry World Cafe.' It's just a really good fit for us.

NV89 – Nevada Public Radio's (NVPR) music discovery channel with no commercials—is now live on 89.1FM in Reno; online at NV89.org and on social media @NV89Radio and #HelloNV89.

NO COMMERCIALS. LOCAL BANDS.

YOUR GENERATION’S PUBLIC RADIO. Reno Tahoe Tonight 81

RADIUS Text Amanda Horn Ugo Rondinone: Seven Magic Mountains, Las Vegas, Nevada, 2016. Photo by Gianfranco Gorgoni. Courtesy of Art Production Fund and Nevada Museum of Art.

[RADIUS] = A YEAR IN REVIEW

O

ne year ago this month, seven gargantuan fluorescent totems arose from a monochromatic desert landscape. The brown palette of the surrounding vista beckons onlookers to wander aimlessly into the void. In contrast, the unnaturally colored hoodoo-inspired stone towers invite the visitor to walk directly toward them. Ugo Rondinone’s Seven Magic Mountains stands only 25 minutes from Paradise, Nevada, home to the world’s most magnificent casino resorts. Yet most people sojourning to the Las Vegas Valley have never ventured into the desert. That is until the outskirts of Las Vegas welcomed its brightest, albeit stoniest, resident.

In the twelve months since Seven Magic Mountains opened, an estimated 300,000 people have visited. It has earned more than $7 million

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in free publicity value. It was designated as one of the top most Instagrammed artworks of 2016.

The grand accomplishment sits on public land, visible from Interstate 15 for 8 million cars per year to see as they travel to and from Sin City. It took the Nevada Museum of Art and partners Art Production Fund almost five years to shepherd the artist’s vision to completion. Such a mammoth undertaking took not only $3.5 million, but also an immeasurable volition on the part of the artist and producers – particularly the Museum. But the gains far outweigh the pains of labor.

Reflecting upon this past year, those benefits shine particularly bright. For the Nevada Museum of Art, Donald W. Reynolds Center for the Visual Arts, E. L. Wiegand Gallery, Seven Magic Mountains has elevated us to a place of recognition and respect among our global museum and art world peers. The success of the artwork has put Nevada on the global cultural map. It has shifted the paradigm toward art and culture in the state.

Naysayers and nonbelievers now see that art can bring a new kind of tourist, one looking for transpersonal experiences rather than fleeting memories. It has proven that locals can and will take pride in cultural experiences.

People get married at the site, every week.

People photograph their dogs, their babies, their engagement photos. Artists create paintings and drawings in homage to the colorful anomaly. Yogis and yoginis feel drawn to the chakra stacks to practice asana. Beyonce and JayZ have visited, as have Instagram stars, mommy blogger royalty, DJ

Tiesto, Princess Eugenie. Rondinone’s crowning achievement may be measured by the cultural phenomenon it has become. Part roadside attraction, part spiritual lighthouse, Seven Magic Mountains blows any metric of expectation to another galaxy.

From a media relations perspective, the success of Seven Magic Mountains exceeds any valuation.

Stories have appeared in more than 16 countries.

A feature fashion spread appeared in Vogue last month. What is most important, however, is that as communications director I no longer waste time explaining to high-end publications who we are as an institution and why what I’m pitching might matter. That point has been proven. Mic drop...

The experience of helping to bring Seven Magic Mountains to fruition has felt like a year spent in Jedi boot camp. When one is called to lead journeys for which no map exists, the experience exposes weaknesses, sharpens focus, produces both misery and adulation. It has called me to go deeper into my spiritual practice so that I may be better prepared for intense challenges. I have been humbled, I have shed tears, and I have gained deep insight into the beautiful and ugly parts of myself. It is neither hyperbole nor metaphor to state that the weight of the lessons Seven Magic Mountains has delivered to me rivals the gravity of the 35-foot tall, 150-ton limestone pillars.

The project has also provided the success benchmark necessary to continue to expand the Museum’s brand into Las Vegas. Recently, we opened Tilting the Basin: Contemporary

Art of Nevada near the downtown arts district.

Partnering with an effort dubbed the Art Museum at Symphony Park, we have begun a community dialogue about the future of an art museum in southern Nevada. Concurrently, we have begun to make headway on our space project with artist Trevor Paglen: next spring, we are launching the first purely artistic satellite into space. I have the privilege of being intimately involved with all these endeavors well beyond my communications role.

During the course of this past year I have also undergone some of the most difficult familial challenges of my adult life. Life doesn’t stop because our calendar is full. I practice – mindfulness, yoga, gratitude – so that I may rise to all the challenges, all the opportunities Grace reveals to me. My only roadblocks are ones I create.

I have photos on my vision board that say, “Lead from the heart,” and, “Shine now.” In more ways that I can articulate, these mantras have manifested into guiding realities. Fearless and humble, I breathe into fierceness.

Amanda Horn is a Reno-based writer, yogini, and creative community enthusiast. A former circus performer, she has been pushing boundaries most of her life, constantly redefining her own and testing the radius of the world she inhabits.She currently serves as Director of Communications for the Nevada Museum of Art. Follow her on Twitter @TeboHorn or email her at amanda.horn@nevadaart.org.

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REAL ESTATE Text and photo courtesy of Shirley Larkins Graphic credit: www.classicproperties. com/Docs/mateDocs/Submit/Sellers/ questions-sellers.jpg

Common Questions from

Home Buyers and Sellers Buying a home can be stressful, especially in a market like ours where prices are not going down and inventory is getting slimmer and slimmer. Sellers are calling the shots and it is easy to get discouraged on the whole home buying process when you feel like you can’t catch a break. I thought it would be helpful to answer a few of the questions that I get a lot and to let you buyers out there know that if you want a house you will get one – it just may take a little longer, and a few more offers than you thought.

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Q A

How often do I find the perfect property on day one?

This varies for everyone but I can tell you that in a market like ours when there are only so many properties available in your price range – and multiple offers coming in you need to be prepared to make an offer. If a house has 80% of what you are looking for usually you can make changes to make it 100% yours!

Q A

How many offers are normally submitted throughout the buying process?

In the words of our 2017 President of the Reno/ Sparks Association of Realtors John Graham, “Affordability and inventory are the cornerstones of a real estate market. With active inventory at about one-half of what the Reno market normally experiences, prices are affected.” You need a good real estate professional by your side to guide you through this competitive market. If you have any questions of your own, please know that I am a real estate resource that is here to help. Also, if there are any topics that you want to know more about send me an email and I will do my best to address them.

Right now this varies based on price range. Under $400,000 most are having to write 4-5 offers due to multiple offer situations. What this means is that you CANNOT fall in love with a property until you have it in contract and have passed through the contingency period. Knowing that you may have to make more than one offer can help balance your feelings and hopefully keep you motivated in the market. Over $400,000 we are still seeing some multiple offer situations but 2-3 contracts is the norm right now.

Q A

How much should I offer the sellers in comparison to the list price?

In Reno/Sparks on average sellers are getting 98% list to sale price. What that means is that most homes are selling for what they are listed for or above. In a seller’s market like this you need to be prepared to offer the ask price or more. That means when shopping you should be looking at homes that are truly in the price range you want to spend.

Q A

Should I sell my house I am currently living in before searching for a new property?

If you are looking for a new home and have one to sell you can do both transactions simultaneously, so that you only have to move once. The key is to talk with a lender so you know what you can buy and then be ready to move fast.

Shirley Larkins is a real estate professional with Chase International and has been selling properties for over 11 years. She specializes in all types of sales from luxury to distressed, and also loves working with first time buyers. She can be reached at slarkins@chaseinternational.com or 775-379-9617.

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RENO STREET PHOTOGRAPHY Photos Eric Marks facebook.com/RenoStreetPhotography

"SAWBLADE SIDE SADDLE" Canon 5dIII ISO 2500 f/2.8 1/125 200mm

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"SIDE BURNED"

Canon 5dIII ISO 2500 f/2.8 1/80 70mm Reno Tahoe Tonight 87

SKATENV Photo Kyle Volland skatenv.com

Shifty Skater Trevor Bird Trick Shifty Location Idlewild Skatepark Reno 88 Reno Tahoe Tonight

SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE.

Open Daily Mon. - Fri. 6:30am to 3pm Sat. 7am to 2pm Sun. 8am to 2pm

294 E Moana Ln #10 roundsbakery.com (775) 329-0800

SLAM DRUNK SOBER Text Doug E Moore Photo Clayton Beck

MY STORY ISN'T OVER YET

T

he other day I was at a stop light behind a vehicle littered with entertaining stickers. One in particular caught my eye and all attention. It was of an enlarged semicolon. Yes, just a semicolon. That simple sticker, more than likely unnoticed by the masses, resonated as deeply with me as my children, wife, loved ones, and each breath I breathe.

IT'S A SYMBOL OF LIFE. MY LIFE. You see, an author uses a semicolon when she doesn’t want the sentence to end. It serves as a pause between two dependent clauses. In this case, I’m the author and the sentence is my life. There was a very dark period where I was considering ending my story, ending my life. Alcohol induced depression was so severe that I was giving up on everything. Everything.

Like a semicolon, there was a brief moment--a pause--regarding the decision I was sadly entertaining.

An interesting aspect of addiction is that it’s completely compassionless. Addiction wants no one to succeed, be happy or let alone content. I had so much positive happening in my life at that time it seemed ridiculous I’d be considering anything but celebrating my life day to day. But I wasn’t. Temptations and over consumption of the bottle rendered me anything and everything but celebratory and mostly considering suicide. But what about my family? What about my boys? I couldn’t imagine them growing up without a dad, without me. That idea, that hope to stay alive even for them, is what kept me going.

My story isn’t over yet. I’m still writing it page by page, moment by moment, one day at a time.

With over two years sober, I’ve rewritten the old stories with new, deeper connecting materials that have brought me more in- tune with 90 Reno Tahoe Tonight

not only myself, but my entire family, friends, community, my business--the list is endless. A semicolon is tattooed on my hand reminding me I’m the author of this sentence, my life.

TIME FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER… Doug E Moore lives in Reno. He’s owner and jeweler at D Street Designs – Custom jewelry fabrications. Doug also teaches an addiction recovery based yoga class Tuesday night’s at Midtown Community Yoga. He’s available at: doug@dstreetdesigns.com & IG/FB @dstreetdesigns

THE NEST Text Tessa Miller Photos Ali Denny “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” I wonder if Charles Dickens was a new mother… The incredible high of knowing that you have literally created human life. The sheer exhaustion of the hormonal roller coaster it puts your body through. The amazing connection you feel with this tiny human being. The fatigue of multiple late night breastfeedings. The awe and wonder of watching him grow and learn. The debilitating terror of the possibility that your kid isn’t normal or you’re screwing him up somehow.

Now these are the normal conflicting emotions of motherhood, but sometimes hormones can go a little rogue. The worst of times begin to overtake the best of times and you spend your days too exhausted to sleep. Crying in bed for hours alone because you can’t seem to keep on top of all of the dishes, or your sluggish brain doesn’t allow you to do simple tasks like remembering, well, just about anything.

You wonder how our species has survived and flourished into seven billion people when raising just one will quite possibly kill you. The anxiety can be debilitating: a constant stream of all of the ways your baby could die keeps you in panic mode

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24/7. What if I trip when I’m walking down the stairs with him? What if he chokes on a piece of food and even though I’ve watched the Heimlich maneuver video on YouTube ten times, I don’t remember what to do in that exact moment?

I’ve lived the past almost two years of my life like this. I’ve been scared to reach out for fear that I’m the only one. Everyone says it’s normal to be overwhelmed. If I can’t handle this, does it make me weak? It seems like all the other mothers out there are feeding their kids exclusively organic food, throwing Pinterest-worthy birthday parties and keeping their houses clean, all with a glowing smile and perfect hair. This is where I think social media and mainstream advertising does us a disservice. Our male-dominated society – that could care less about women’s health and signs away our ability to get help by defunding Planned Parenthood – doesn’t provide the tools we need to help ourselves and to create awareness of these stigmatized issues.

As a result of my undiagnosed postpartum depression and anxiety, I let my hormones run haywire until they practically shut down my body.

Many symptoms were imperceptible to most until I lost half of the hair on my head. I didn’t realize I wasn’t alone in my depression and anxiety, until I put out an honest, raw blog post

announcing my decision to shave my head in an act of empowerment.

The amazing feedback from this symbolic release has inspired me to tell more of my story and encourage others to share theirs. There is power in connecting with others. sharing advice, feeling heard and knowing that you are connected with other human beings that understand you can make all the difference in the world.

In honor of Mother’s Day, throughout the entire month of May at The Nest, we will have a plethora of events and speakers sharing their stories, best practices and advice – not just for moms or people with depression or anxiety, but for everyone so that we may all better understand and help each other along in the struggle of being human. Events include a free photo shoot with mom for Mother’s Day, energy healing and reiki classes, and much more. If any of this resonates with you, follow my journey on my blog (thenestreno.com/blog) and check our calendar for more information on these events.

Yes, I have lost my hair, my way and my sanity at times, but I have this beautiful baby boy and a supportive community who remind me of the joy of the simple things in life and the love that abounds in human connection.

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EVENTS We Talk Wednesdays: Every Wednesday in May 5:30-7:30pm. Midweek aftershifter forums hosted by Gregory Belle Jr. and Tessa Dee Miller of The Nest and facilitated by local professionals dedicated to these issues. Acoustic sets by local singer/ songwriters Joel Ackerson from The Novelists, John White and Grace Larkins plus small bites will accompany each seminar. Free with donation option.

• Closing The Gap: how to talk about sensitive gender issues without pissing each other off and how to transform these new understandings into actions.

• Unity and Equality: ow to strive for balance in a relationship while respecting space and strengths/weaknesses associated with gender roles • There’s Nothing to be Afraid of: finding a space to safely express suppressed, gender-assigned feelings (boys don’t cry, girls don’t swear, etc.)

• Let’s Talk About Sex: a talk addressing women’s issues that range from the impact of pornography on our sex lives to intimacy after children. Led by special guests Rebekah Stetson & Ellie Holbrook.

May Day: Sunday, April 30. 12-2pm. Let’s kick off the month with random acts of kindness, shall we? Camryn Lane Florals will be helping us make May Day flower arrangements. May your Day be filled with_______!

Professional Photos with Mom: Saturday, May 13th. 12-3pm. Get a professional photo of your mom or with your mom. She’s usually the one behind the camera, making sure everyone else is recorded in time. I thought my mom would live forever, and when she passed, I always regretted not getting more photos of her and with her.

Storewide discounts for Mom. Reiki & Energy Healing: Saturday, May 20th. 11:30-3pm. An honest conversation about losing and finding ourselves through motherhood using Reiki healing energy and mind/body work as means of healing and connection. Discussion and Reiki Circle open to all at no charge – Individual Reiki Sessions - first come, first serve, $10/15 minute session.

DIY Flower Crown Class: Wednesday, May 31. 5:30-7:30. We are all queens! Come make a flower crown with us using longer-lasting succulents and air plants. Co-hosted by Camryn Lane Florals.

Tickets $35 in advance/$40 day of. Call or email for reservations.

The Nest 201 Keystone Avenue Reno, NV 89503 FB/Instagram/Twitter: @thenestreno thenestreno.com

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TRAINING TIPS Text Camille Lyman Photo Irina Kendrick @IPKPhotography

Why Indulgence/cheat meals can be beneficial to losing fat The idea of indulging in cheat meals may seem a little confusing at first, especially when you spend all week sticking to a strict calorie macro/micro/ energy expenditure controlled meal plan, only to undo it all in one evening of consumption. Many people struggle to keep going on their healthy plan when there’s no bacon or chocolate covered end in sight.

When exploring the idea of a cheat meal helping you stay on course, looking at the science is key.

Fortunately for people with major cravings, science likes to say that cheating on your meal plan can actually be beneficial in a number of ways. What if I told you that, according to my researchindulging your sweet tooth may just help your weight loss/ muscle mass growth goals through introducing two hormones?

Regulate appetite hormones ghrelin and leptin There are two hormones, ghrelin and leptin that play a huge role in how strong and how frequent your cravings are for food. Leptin is known as the appetite suppressing hormone and ghrelin is the hunger stimulating hormone. Research shows significant changes in the levels of both leptin and ghrelin within 24 to 72 hours of fasting.

When you stick to a calorie restricted meal plan, you may be causing your leptin levels to fall and your ghrelin levels to rise.

By temporarily increasing calorie intake through a cheat/indulgence meal, our bodies can regulate the levels of these hormones in the body, causing our appetite to be neutral. Usually leptin production can be boosted by almost 30% for up to 24 hours after indulging in a carbohydrate rich meal. By having these hormone levels return to 98 Reno Tahoe Tonight

normal, we can help manage our hunger levels and drive up our energy expenditure.

As leptin levels can drop within days of fasting and the effects of indulging/cheating can last for 24 hours or so, it might be a good idea for some people to actually schedule in regular cheat meals to take advantage of these time periods.

It’s important to note that levels of leptin in the body are lower when you have higher lean mass and higher when you have a lot of fat mass. So if you’re just beginning on your weight loss journey, you have less of a need to cheat on your meal plan than those who are near their ideal weight per lean mass/fat mass.

As many dieters know, when you’re nearing your goal body fat and lean mass weight you may be more likely to experience an incredibly frustrating weight loss plateau. But thanks to its hormone regulating and metabolism boosting abilities, a strategically planned indulgence meal may help you break through most plateaus.

Remember there is no need to cheat more than you have to. Plan just one cheat meal a week if you have a lot of weight to lose. Because leptin decreases with body fat levels, the closer you are to your goal weight, the greater your chances of being able to enjoy two cheats a week without damaging your effort which is an added incentive to keep going.

Lastly, beware of alcohol. Generally, alcohol isn’t a good idea with your cheat meal, as it has been shown to decrease leptin levels.

Camille Lyman owner of Camie Cragg Fitness NSL Pro Beach Bikini Athlete, Lululemon Ambassador, Co-Host Fit Fridays Mornings on Fox 11

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UNITED WE STONED Text Rebecca Gasca

I am an Adult.

Why Can’t I Buy Weed Yet in Nevada?

Rebecca Gasca is the former lobbyist for the ACLU of Nevada and CEO/founder of leading cannabis consulting company, Pistil + Stigma. She is an expert on state laws, compliance, quality assurance and security issues and has used her cannabis regulatory expertise to support growing businesses in the industry consulting in and with clients from over 12 states and territories and leading a team that secured for clients one of the three competitive dispensary licenses in Oahu, Hawai'i in 2016 102 Reno Tahoe Tonight

With the passage of ballot Question 2 last November, Nevada voters legalized the consumption of cannabis by adults over 21, but legally allowing sales of marijuana doesn’t just happen with the flick of a switch. In fact, it is quite complicated for the state to move into a regulatory framework that builds on the existing medical marijuana regulations the state created following legislative approval back in 2013.

to the medical marijuana program. Since laws give direction to (supersede) regulations, then legislative decisions override regulatory proposals when they happen concurrently—though that is only when the legislature can make decisions. And of course, the Governor can override any legislative decision with a veto. Sound confusing? Yeah, our government was purposefully built with checks and balances like this.

Why is it so complicated? Well, first let’s review your high school government class… Wait? What?

You thought government class was boring and you still don’t want to worry about that? Well, guess what? When you regulate weed, that means you give it to the government to create rules around it, so you should start caring.

As a further balance, it is important to know that because of existing case law, or judicial interpretations of law, the legislature can’t technically change anything that voters approved via Question 2 for at least three years, but they do get to make additions to the law when there is no conflict. This is why the legislature is focusing on making adjustments to the adult use marijuana program where they have some leeway. Though Question 2 doesn’t even require the state to allow sales of marijuana to adults over 21 until January 2018, the Governor is supporting an early start to the sales with the intention of sales beginning on July 1, 2017, and his recommended budget for the biennium includes $69 million from adult use tax revenue (subject to projected tax rates) to first support the oversight of the program and then support education through the state’s Distributive School Account.

So now that you care about government oversight again, you should know that there are several aspects of the ballot question that fundamentally shift away from the operations of the current medical marijuana system. For example, medical marijuana cultivation and production facilities are allowed to transport their own products to dispensaries for ultimate sale to patients. Under the adult use system, cultivation and production companies will have to work with a licensed marijuana distributor who will function as a transportation middleman—just like alcohol.

Question 2 also implements a new tax collection structure with a 15% wholesale tax at the cultivation level. This is a departure from the medical marijuana system, where there is a 2% tax levied every time a product is sold--at a maximum of three times: at the cultivation, production, and dispensary levels. Of course, with new potential tax revenue to the state, state legislators and the Governor care a lot about marijuana—both for medical and non-medical (but mostly budgetary) purposes.

To complicate things further, there are two parallel governmental processes happening at the same time, through both regulation and law, that will affect future marijuana oversight. The Department of Tax is being guided in its regulatory creation process for Question 2 by the Governor’s Task Force and its numerous working groups that are comprised of local government representatives, law enforcement, consumer advocates, medical marijuana businesses and industry participants.

In order to make any of these changes, the government has to go through a public meeting and approval process for making permanent any of the recommendations that they have. In the case of the ballot question, the oversight responsibilities were given to the Department of Taxation, a separate entity than the Department of Health, which currently oversees the medical marijuana program including sales of medical marijuana to patients. So both of the these Departments, as well as the state legislature, are all working to create something for each other, some of which may erase what each other does.

So this is why you can legally possess up to an ounce of marijuana right now, but can’t walk into a dispensary or retail establishment and actually purchase it anywhere in the state. Does that frustrate you? Then I suggest that you run for office.

At the same time, the legislature is meeting to consider possible statutory, or law, changes Reno Tahoe Tonight 103

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