The Adventures of Yukon Sully

The Epic Story Of One Man's Quest To Find Fame, Fortune, And Some Decent Chicken Wings In The Biggest Little City In The World!

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Location: Reno, Nevada, United States

Yukon Sully is the heroic alter ego of a mild-mannered attorney who lives in a modest suburb on the outskirts of Reno, Nevada. He fights a never-ending battle for Truth, Justice, and the American Way. Always remember, he's much smarter than you are.

100 Things About Me

Friday, January 05, 2007

Lake Tahoe's Existence Verified By Celluloid

My mom has recently discovered text messaging in a big way. It now seems to be her preferred form of communication. Personally I don't text much, as I find it a bit cumbersome for anything more than two or three words, plus I don't get half the abbreviations people use (ROTFLOL). But she has taken to it like a fish to water. A couple of days ago I was in court at about 9 a.m. and received a text message from her telling me that Alabama had hired Nick Saban as head football coach. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining--I was glad to find out that particular scrap of information, plus it's a great "you know you're from Alabama when..." kind of story. But it also illustrates the fact that my mother has become a texting fiend as of late.

Case in point: This morning she sent me a text message to tell me that she'd just seen an ad for a movie about a bunch of hit men trying to kill some sort of lounge lizard (Jeremy Piven, pictured below) at a Tahoe Casino. As you would expect in real life, this requires assembling a couple dozen hit-men with wildly contrasting wacky personalities, complete with outlandish costumes and overly-elaborate methods of assassination. I instantly knew the movie she was talking about since I'd seen a preview for it myself a few weeks ago. It's called Smokin' Aces, and it looks like one of those super-slick action movies from the mid-90's when every up-and-coming filmmaker wanted to be Quentin Tarantino. Whether this film turns out to be the next Snatch or (God help us) the next 3000 Miles To Graceland remains to be seen. But the thing I thought was interesting was that both my mom and I (as well as all the whispering people in the theater I saw it with) had the same thought when we saw the preview: "Hey, that's Lake Tahoe!"


Unless you live in a big photogenic city that's constantly appearing in such venues--i.e. New York, San Francisco, L.A. or Chicago--there's always a strange, giddy thrill attached to seeing your hometown or region of the country featured on TV or, better yet, in a movie. Even if it's in a context designed to make a mockery of you. In this media-soaked age of celebrity as an end unto itself, being the backdrop to a movie is almost the highest honor a community can receive. It's like the gods of consumer entertainment descending from the heavens just to bestow their blessing on you, and to let you know that yes, you count, you are worthy of being exposed to the mass consciousness. This is very important because if it never happens, how can you really be sure you exist at all?

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Farewell to the Jazz Cafe

The weather today was unusually warm, more like May than January, and so I took a little more time than usual in strolling to court this afternoon. As I walked by the Artist Loft building, I noticed a small printed sign on the front door of EJ's Jazz Cafe. Apparently EJ's won't be with us much longer; the sign on the door said that the cafe is no more, and in it's place will soon be something called the Wild River Grille. The sign pointed me to this link, but apparently the website is still under construction.

I don't want to make this into the passing of an era or anything, but I always had a soft spot for EJ's. It was an eclectic environment, and one of the very few places in Reno that you could see live jazz and have something approximating real Cajun and Creole food. When I moved downtown in 2004 I used to hang out there pretty regularly since it was just a block or so up the Truckee river from the old Fortress of Solitude.

It's hard to get too nostalgic about it since it wasn't there very long and had more than it's share of problems. The place was so small that even a moderately sized crowd would make it difficult of find a seat, and although I liked the fact that they brought in some decent jazz bands (jazz is always much, much better live) the compact dimensions of the place made the music so abrasively loud that it was impossible to talk to anyone. Frankly, between the noise and the jostling of the crowd sometimes you felt like you might as well be at Brew Brothers.

Still, EJ's was one of those places that you had to appreciate the idea of, even if the execution wasn't always perfect. EJ's took a chance on downtown Reno back when that idea was still laughable, long before anyone thought of turning derelict casinos into stylish condos and the riverfront was still pretty much considered the exclusive domain of junkies and schizophrenics. I admire the owners for taking a chance on creating the sort of venue that most people would never expect to find in Reno and somehow making it work, at least for a while. I hope the new owners find success.