For Sunday, February 17, 2008                                  Drummer Column, Gibbs, 800 words

Reno Nein Won Won

 

     My wife took me to Reno for three days to celebrate my 54^th birthday and nothing exceptional happened. You’re still going to hear about it because that’s what I’ve got.

     We had fun, but it was depressing, too. Reno, if you leave the Virginia Street Strip, is a ghost town. Somebody call 911. A lot of old casinos have shut their doors, mostly because the California Indian Gaming industry and the price of gas have put the city off its reservations.

     The Riverboat is an empty shell. The Comstock and the Sundowner are being converted to condos. I guess that’s the only way the owners will ever be able to sell the buildings. Imagine the expense and limited success of knocking down walls to turn two or three hotel rooms into a condo on a street lined with abandoned buildings. Who will buy and at what price? 

     The Sands is still holding on, but its hourglass is running. We walked the side streets for a couple hours reminiscing of the heydays when we were young and used to sleep in the car to save money so we could play blackjack and count cards all night. Blackjack ain’t what it used to be. Now it’s four decks, or 6 to 5 win on a blackjack. Why bother. We played Pai Gow for 15 hours.

     I needed to make a movie. I teach movie making at BHS and I needed some refresher practice because all the software has changed. So, I decided to film our trip. I haven’t transferred it from the camera yet, but I can assure you it will be real bad. We didn’t try hard. We just turned the camera on and talked into it, impromptu. There’s no script, no plot, no real beginning or end. We didn’t film anything until the second day, and the battery died in the middle of filming on the last day. That will be OK for my needs. I just need to practice cutting, splicing, dicing, and rendering. It may never see the light of day. However, if it is salvageable and not too embarrassing, I’ll post it on Youtube and let you know.

     I post a lot of stuff on Youtube, as do my students. It’s a great way to share. If you search for any of these keyword combos you’ll find all our films. “Steve Gibbs Benicia” or “Benicia Art Production” or “Steve Gibbs Ridgway”.

     We saw some bad live entertainment. We paid to see the musical Forbidden Broadway at the El Dorado, where we stayed for $57 a night. I didn’t care much for the parts I didn’t sleep through. It was four singers and a piano player. They’d come out, parody a Broadway play with a corny song and corny costumes, run off, change costumes and do it again. To bring me pleasure I imagined myself laying bricks.

     The over-priced Sienna and the area around the Truckee River are nice. Some non-gaming nightclubs have opened. We spent one afternoon at the movies. Saw Michael Clayton. Zowie. Great film. When the hired assassins killed off Tom Wilkinson’s character, it was so smooth and professional, it made me think that that sort of thing probably goes on in real life a lot more than people imagine.

     When we came out I noticed a butter stain on my good shirt, so we stopped in a nearby pub, the Sierra Tap House, to use their bathroom and soap dispenser. To be polite we had a cocktail. They served absinthe, so we gave it a try. $11 per. Pretty jazzy stuff this green fairy. In the back room they were setting up for a home-brew competition between 23 local competitors. Price to taste them all: $5. The winner in my book was a hefeweizen.

     We left 6 hours later. Stopped in the Nugget for an after-midnight Awful Awful burger and fries. Thank God that little niche has survived. We ate there twice.

     We never made it down to the Peppermill Atlantis area. Drove by but didn’t stop. It’s still thriving. Dealers say that’s where the locals go. Peppermill is generous with its comps.

     We spent the last day in lovely Yerington. That’s where I have my little 34-garage mini-storage business. When I bought it in 2004, there were four storage businesses in town. Now there are seven. A jumbo 240-unit storage facility just opened right across the street from me. Scoundrels. They charge $65 for a 10x20-foot garage. We drove up so I could hang my new gigantic road sign that says very simply: “$45 mo.” in big red letters.

     I’m still mostly sold out. Have 2 vacancies currently. Used the opportunity to have the doors serviced. Tumbleweeds are still regular tenants. I tossed them over the fence into the open desert. Filmed it.

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