Prior to their appearance at the Governor’s Mansion last Thursday night the well know team of Bob Baffert and Mike Smith were hosted at a noon luncheon at the Carson Valley Inn by owner Mike Pegram. The event was attended by some 75 people including the writer. Pegram, who is the owner of CVI, and Baffert have a long relationship in the sport of horse racing. Smith is a … [Read more...]
Editor’s Delight
By the middle of last week there was a plethora of major news stories that would have delighted the most hard-hearted editor. Number one was the historic scene of a United States President setting foot in North Korea. When President Trump was in Osaka, Japan for the G20 meeting he issued one of his famous tweets in which he invited North Korea leader Kim Jong-un to meet with … [Read more...]
Demented Dems
Major news last week was the long awaited Democrat debates on Wednesday and Thursday nights. To start off with, it is probably well to compare the two nights. The first night was a rather pallid exposition of the lower tier of Democrat candidates. The only one with some stature was the lone female Elizabeth Warren. Her annoying shrill voice was quickly surpassed on the second … [Read more...]
What is proportionate?
Major news story last week was the downing of an American drone by Iran. Once the event occurred there was an immediate cry for retaliation. President Trump seemed to be poised to do just that but at the last minute he cancelled the strike. There were two camps on the topic, one was for an all-out military action and the other was for more diplomacy. Oddly enough there were … [Read more...]
More film cowboys
Among the many movie cowboys I have met, two of the most interesting were Paul Newman and Robert Redford who took the oater film to new heights with their semi-comedic “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”. Of the two, I first met Newman on his arrival in Hollywood for his initial film “The Silver Chalice”. It was at the home of my good friend, actor Bob Patten. At that time … [Read more...]
Celluloid cowboys
When I was a youngster the many games we played were always topped by pretending to be cowboys. Our favorite costumes were authentic western duds that were ordered from the Montgomery Ward catalogue. Tops among movies of that era were the Saturday western serials. Watching those heroes ride and shoot it didn’t seem possible that over the ensuring years I would actually … [Read more...]
Clint the tennis player
Watching Clint Eastwood in his latest role in “The Mule” brought to mind when the superstar lent his presence to the Northern Nevada Area in a big way. It was in September of 1975 nearly 44 years ago that Clint hosted his Celebrities Tennis Tournament at the Hyatt Hotel at Incline Village Lake Tahoe. Although I had played several Tennis Matches with Clint and hoisted a few … [Read more...]
The Golden Era
Dondero’s iconic “Date Line Reno” is a marvelous collection of photos of the many famous celebrities that visited Reno in the Golden Era. The last time I enjoyed lunch at the Prospector’s club inside the Eldorado Hotel Casino in Reno, it was graciously hosted by former Harrah’s Executive Vice President of Entertainment Holmes Hendricksen, with fellow guests Burt Bonaldi, Lou … [Read more...]