Category Archives: Features

October 26, 2009 · 8:48 am

Get in the Halloween spirit with spooky entertainment

Drag MeNothing gets you in the mood for Halloween like watching a scary movie or two, and we’re in the fortunate position of having several good, recent horror flicks in movie theaters and video stores. Even better, you can find a couple solid horror offerings on TV. That means even folks watching their budget can afford to get spooked. Read on for my picks of the best of recent horror entertainment.

On video

“Orphan”: You’ll have to wait until Tuesday to catch this one, as that’s when it’s being released on Blu-ray and DVD. Don’t hesitate to put it on hold though. It’s the best horror film I’ve seen this year. Click here for the full story: http://www.rgj.com/article/20091025/ENT01/910250302/1056/ENT/Can-t-miss-horror-shows-for-big-and-small-screens

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October 16, 2009 · 5:17 am

Def Leppard is still working hard

NOTE: The remainder of Def Leppard’s current tour dates (including the Reno, NV concert) were canceled after this story was initially published.

Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott says he and his bandmates are convinced that they’re yet to write their best song, and it’s that belief that keeps them going.

“It doesn’t matter whether you or our audience think, ‘He must be kidding himself,’ ” Elliott said during a recent phone interview. “Just because we’ve had massive hit singles, doesn’t mean that we can’t write a better song. Maybe nobody will ever hear it, but we will try and do it. It’s just a self-belief that there’s more to life than there’s already been.”

Elliott and the rest of Def Leppard will play Reno Events Center on Thursday along with opening acts Cheap Trick and Man Raze. The band regularly fed the music charts in the 1980s with a stream of pop-metal hits including “Photograph,” “Pour Some Sugar on Me” and “Rock of Ages,” but it hasn’t released a hit single in more than a decade. Still, Elliott said, the group draws large crowds on tour.

Click here for the entire story:  http://www.rgj.com/article/20091016/ENT02/910160321/1056/ENT/Def-Leppard-on-hunt-for-hit–but-not-worried-if-it-doesn-t-find-one

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October 5, 2009 · 8:04 pm

Reno producer brings Darwin’s life to the screen in new television movie

"Darwin's Darkest Hour" star Frances O'Connor with Reno-based producer Norman Stephens.

"Darwin's Darkest Hour" star Frances O'Connor with Reno-based producer Norman Stephens.

When National Geographic Television executives decided to take a break from documentary filmmaking and create the company’s first fully-scripted docu-drama, they turned to Reno-based producer Norman Stephens.

The movie was to examine the life of British scientist Charles Darwin, and Stephens, who has more than two decades of television experience, saw it as an ideal project.

“Everyone’s sort of mourning the death of the TV movie, and I think that we’re finding new avenues to use the TV-movie format,” Stephens said. “I think that it’s going to be embraced. I don’t think the TV movie is dead.”

It’s certainly not dead this week. The finished film, “Darwin’s Darkest Hour,” is debuting Tuesday as the kickoff to the new season of “Nova” on PBS, and Stephens said he’s pleased to be closing in on the air date.

Click here for full story: http://www.rgj.com/article/20091004/ENT/910040311/1056/Reno-producer-brings-Darwin-s-life-to-the-small-screen

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August 9, 2009 · 12:37 am

Great classic car movies

Doc Hudson, a 1951 Hudson Hornet, is one of the stars in the Pixar film "Cars."

Doc Hudson, a 1951 Hudson Hornet, is one of the stars in the Pixar film "Cars."

Cars and cinema share a rich heritage, so with Hot August Nights winding down in Reno, I thought it would be fun to look at some of the greatest classic car films of all time.

Some of my picks, such as the Stephen King thriller “Christine,” have a car at the heart of the plot. Others, like “Rebel Without a Cause” and “The French Connection,” simply feature cars in pivotal scenes. In compiling the list, our main concern was that the film include a classic car or two and that it demonstrate just how important automobiles have become in film culture.

Click here for full story: http://www.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artikkel?Dato=20090806&Kategori=ENT&Lopenr=90806023&Ref=AR

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July 31, 2009 · 3:37 am

Smash Mouth ready for Sparks show

Smash Mouth is playing a free concert Saturday in Sparks, Nevada.

Smash Mouth is playing a free concert Saturday in Sparks, Nevada.

Smash Mouth bassist Paul De Lisle says it doesn’t matter if the band is playing a festival, a club or even a free show at an outdoor mall, as it will Saturday night at Legends at Sparks Marina.

“We’ve played in the weirdest places and the weirdest situations,” De Lisle said. “It honestly doesn’t matter to us, man. If we’re gigging, we’re happy. “We approach every show the same way.”

Click here for full story: http://rgj.com/article/20090731/ENT02/907310313/1056/ENT/A-sunny-outlook-for-Smash-Mouth

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July 31, 2009 · 2:46 am

Reno Philharmonic goes Gershwin

When the Reno Philharmonic played its first concert on Aug. 3, 1969, then-music-director Gregory Stone rolled out a lush program populated solely by George Gershwin tunes.

This weekend, in celebration of the philharmonic’s 40th anniversary, new music director and conductor Laura Jackson is taking the orchestra back to its roots. Her first program as artistic leader of the orchestra is an all-Gershwin affair featuring guest vocalist Anita Johnson and Reno pianist Jim Winn.

Click here for full story: http://rgj.com/article/20090731/ENT02/907310314/1056/ENT/Philharmonic-marks-40-years-as-new-conductor-makes-debut

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July 27, 2009 · 7:30 am

Funk Brothers keep Motown alive

Eddie Willis, left, and Bob Babbitt, original Motown Funk Brothers, will perform Aug. 1 for Artown.

Eddie Willis, left, and Bob Babbitt, original Motown Funk Brothers, will perform Aug. 1 for Artown.

Don’t expect Bob Babbitt to hang up his bass any time soon. The veteran musician, best known for playing on Motown hits during the late 1960s and early 1970s, says his instrument is a “fountain of youth.”

“My sister once said to me, ‘Bob, are you ever gonna retire?’ And you know what I said to her? ‘What makes you think I work?’ I don’t care what you do, if you honestly and truly love it, it’s not work.”

So, Babbitt keeps playing, and Aug. 1 he’ll be in Reno to close the 2009 Artown festival with a free performance by his band, the Funk Brothers.

Click here for full story: http://rgj.com/article/20090726/ENT/907260302/1056/Funk-Brothers-carry-Motown-tradition-to-close-of-Artown

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July 25, 2009 · 9:20 pm

Coeur d’Alene Art Auction nets millions

The Coeur d’Alene Art Auction, held Saturday afternoon in the Silver Legacy’s Grande Exhibition Hall, grossed nearly $11.5 million, with the sale of one Charles M. Russell watercolor accounting for nearly 10 percent of the total.

Click here for the full story: http://www.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200990725026

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July 24, 2009 · 6:47 am

Aspen Santa Fe Ballet likes to surprise

Katie Dehler, Samantha Klanac, Emily Proctor and Lauren Alzamora perform with Aspen Santa Fe Ballet.

Katie Dehler, Samantha Klanac, Emily Proctor and Lauren Alzamora perform with Aspen Santa Fe Ballet.

When it comes to Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, artistic director Tom Mossbrucker says audiences should “expect the unexpected.”

“I think a lot of people have preconceived notions when they think of seeing a dance performance, especially one with the name ballet in the title,” Mossbrucker said during a Monday phone interview. “Our dancers are classically trained and we’re a ballet company, but our repertoire is very contemporary and it’s also very diverse.”

The troupe, performing tonight at the Grand Sierra Resort, was founded in Aspen, Colo., in 1996 and took on a second home in Santa Fe, N.M., in 2000. Thus the name.

Click here for full story: http://www.rgj.com/article/20090724/ENT/907240316/1056/ENT/Ballet-company-blends-classical-with-contemporary

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July 12, 2009 · 9:10 pm

Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival is about more than the great view

Henry Woronicz, new executive producer for Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, says audiences this year should expect a lot more than lapping waves and a great view.

“One of the challenges of this festival is that the venue is so beautiful that you’ve got to make the plays equally interesting,” Woronicz said. “You really have to because if they lose interest in the play, they have these wonderful dinners and glasses of wine. “» Friends of mine, over the years, have seen a play there and I always ask them what they saw, and they can never remember. They talk about the venue. They talk about how beautiful it was sitting on the beach.”

Woronicz says he wants his audiences to walk away talking about the plays.

Click here for full story: http://www.rgj.com/article/20090712/LIV/907120305/1089/Much-ado-about-Lake-Tahoe-Shakespeare

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