Week of April 17, 2024

From the editor’s desk

About the new Alex Garland film Civil War, Bob Grimm writes that it’s “a full-blown cinematic grenade, a hypothetical look at an America divided during a second civil war. It’s also a look at what lengths the press will go to in order to get a story. This is not a happy movie by any means.” We’ll take intense, memorable and timely over happy most days. 

But if you’re more interested in a respite from intensity, we also offer this brief foray into unabashed cuteness: In this month’s Streetalk column, photo editor David Robert asked people an imaginative question about what’s really on their minds—their pets. 

Piper Stremmel and Chris Reilly, owners of The Jesse Hotel and Abby’s Highway 40 on Fourth Street, are sprucing up the long-closed Best Bet Motor Lodge in Midtown and reopening it as a boutique motel. Cocktail scribe Michael Moberly checked in with them to discuss their plans for onsite hangout spots like the bar, fire pit and Airstream sauna.

For people diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and their families, Nevada is a “neurology desert,” with a shortage of specialists who can provide proper care. And where there are shortages, inequities follow. One local group, the Parkinson Support Center of Northern Nevada, helps people access medical care and social support. If you’d like to join their efforts or learn more, the group’s big fundraiser, complete with celebrity panel discussion, is tomorrow (Thursday), April 18, at the National Automobile Museum in downtown Reno.

Alex Tebeleff and Matthew Dowling’s new music duo is named How???, as in how do you blend Americana songwriting with electronic production and instrumentation? Your next chance to find out firsthand is this Friday, April 19, when they take the stage at the Tap Shack Summer Stage in Carson City. 

And on Saturday, April 20, singer-songwriter Canyon White is slated to perform at the Polecat Tavern, also in Carson City. Canyon talked with music scribe Matt King in the latest Lucky 13 interview. 

Bob Grimm has never even played the video game that Fallout is based on, but with its post-nuclear premise, awesome special effects and the great Walton Goggins playing a 200-year-old former Western movie star, he deemed the new Amazon Prime series “bonkers fun” and “stranger-than-all-hell.“

Are you priced out of basic medical care, like many Nevadans? CARE Chest is a local organization that’s been helping people access medical equipment and similar resources for 34 years now. Executive director Anne McNulty explained what the group offers in more detail.

Take care,

—Kris Vagner, managing editor