Sharks in the Wall
By Joe Gosen, Outpost contributor
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Not all cheesy lounge acts and Elvis impersonators |
Hank Allen, Trevor Ganske and Casey Solum are here to check out the band, too. Or to be more specific, what kind of crowd this band will attract.
"We came because we knew there would be women here," Ganske says.
Solum pipes in: "It sucks being single in this town. It's a married man's town."
Allen adds: "Yeah. A high percentage of women in this town are married. And the single ones are divorced, smoke and have kids."
The three bachelors are in their late 20s, for many that post-college, premarital stage of life. The men are California transplants, college graduates, have management positions with construction companies, own four-wheel drive vehicles, enjoy water skiing, share a house and love going out on Friday and Saturday nights -- most of the time together.
"We base our entertainment on whether women are going to be where we're going. The quality of the music is always secondary," Solum says.
Allen adds, "But you have to pick a good band to go see if there are going to be women there."
Ganske wraps up: "And it gets expensive. You go out with some friends, pay a cover charge, buy a couple of rounds for your buddies and stay out all night. The next day you're hung over and thinking what did I get out of it? Gee, a girl smiled at me last night at a club."
It cost $5 to get in tonight, but I think it's worth it because The Mudsharks are playing. The Mudsharks are a local band from Reno that has developed a strong following over the years. The band has been touring in support of its latest release, Squeals Suculae, and has performed festival shows with the Specials, Sublime and Skankin Pickle last summer.
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An invisible line exists tonight between the people who are here to see the band and who are here to be seen. Up near the stage an enthusiastic crowd grooves to the beat the music. Over by the bar another crowd sways to the beat of their hearts.
Allen was definitely more interested in the crowd than the band. "They're a good band, but I've heard them for the last four years. They draw the little punk crowd and they're getting harder to dance to. Then again, maybe I'm just getting old."
Allen says the problem with Reno is that most of the night life and entertainment revolves around going to bars.
"There aren't any good places to go to pick up girls on a regular basis," he says. "And the girls who have all of their teeth, don't smoke and don't have kids aren't going out to the bars because they're afraid of the bar scene." With that, they left for Fantasy Girls.
Laura Brigham, a 31-year-old advertising sales representative, is at the Little Waldorf tonight. She's single, has all of her teeth, doesn't have a cigarette dangling from her lips and doesn't have a baby on her hip.
She doesn't go out often, but she heard The Mudsharks are a fun band to see. And she wanted to break out of her rut of staying home on weekend nights.
"The band is lively and people are dancing alone and together," she says. "But there's a big old humungous pick-up thing going on here. Looking for guys is usually secondary, unless they fall onto my lap."
Usually Brigham goes out a couple of times a month, mostly to chat with friends over a drink. "I moved to Reno so I could get up early on Saturday mornings and go hiking, so I usually stay home on Friday nights. I don't really seek out night life activities anymore. I did all of that in my 20s."
copyright 11/15/97 Nevada Outpost
http://www.jour.unr.edu/outpost
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