Week of June 14, 2023

From the editor’s desk

Tucked away in corners of the Truckee Meadows, a few battered relics of an endangered technology still quietly do their jobs. Local pay telephones still exist in the digital age, reports Zoe Dixon, who discovered that some older residents view them with nostalgia—while younger folks are puzzled that they still exist at all.

With the advent of brew pubs and access to hundreds of boutique brews, making beer at home seems like a bygone skill no longer needed in the 21st century. But not so fast! Marc Tiar, our man on the beer beat, discovers a community of local home brewers and a Reno shop that supplies them with equipment for their sudsy hobby.

Matt King’s Lucky 13 column profiles Brad Bynum, a former RN&R editor, and his band, Elephant Rifle, which combines elements of post-punk, noise rock, hardcore and metal into one insane combination. The band’s latest album, Broken Water, just dropped and is the band’s first release in five years.

Movie maven Bob Grimm sat through Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, but never saw the flick morph into a decent movie. He gives a hat tip to the film’s robot-to-car (and back) transformations, but reports that when the human characters are onscreen, the story stalls.

Maggie Nichols continues to pinpoint great hiking spots in Reno-Sparks’ backyard. With numerous trails and several access points, Wedekind Regional Park is a great spot to enjoy a slice of nature just minutes away from downtown Sparks.

In our latest Streetalk, photo chief Dave Robert quizzes passers-by about the plague of gun violence and what to do about it. Thoughts and prayers were not mentioned.

Most of these pieces, and much more, are also available in ink, on paper, in our June print edition, available free at newsstands across Northern Nevada.

I’ll see you in the funny papers.

Take care,

—Frank X. Mullen, Editor