Cruisin’ the Muses: Going back behind the reporter’s notebook

Swan song columns don’t depress, but they sure are bittersweet. So it is with this one. Even though the musemeister retires, however, the reporter behind that persona stays on to dig up news.This column space has concentrated mainly on you, the people of Carson City who work and play in arts and culture.Occasionally, I’ve inserted myself to keep things lively, in keeping with an admonition from the best journalistic mentor ever, Dr. Paul B. Snider at Bradley University in central Illinois.“Never do anything always,” the late newsman and professor used to say. He also counseled: “Say it and get it out.” In keeping with that advice and thanks to the Nevada Appeal, next year’s beat will be Carson City’s city government and commerce rather than culture and, occasionally, aging and health. The culture, etc., beat was fun because of a lifelong love for troupers in whichever branch of the arts they plied their trade. They’re workers, players, performers, plus pleasant people.So here are a few — but by no means all — of the fine folks I’ve met or gotten to know better in the past half year:• David and Elinor Bugli, music lovers, performers and more. David believes sleep is over-rated. He’s right. Thanks to both for the symphony orchestra, the jazz band, & beyond. • John and Tami Shelton, head honchos at the Brewery Arts Center (BAC), who have put it back on track as a wonderful cultural resource.• The musicians of Suspect Terrane, who play bluegrass and more on the not-so-secret porch and elsewhere. Catch Lynn Zonge, Brad Hart, Michael Suglia and Michael Chambon when you can.• Pat Holub, painter and a mainstay of the Nevada Artists Association and the BAC’s art gallery.• Louise Noel Russell, whose art shimmers with vibrancy and color. You can see her work downtown at Artsy Fartsy, where Jeffrey Pace is an artist at sales. •Tommy Hughes, retired social worker/teacher and local art collector, whose art form is being a teenager disguised as a septuagenarian.• Bob Reid, musician, author and entrepreneur who also performs regularly with Comma Coffee’s June Joplin as a dynamic duo in an American songbook act billed Me and Bobby McGhee.• Dane Doyle, Dead Wood Walking, a walking stick craftsman and retired electrician who helped get “Cruisin’ the Muses” going last summer. Now it’s adios to musemeister opinion; nose-for-news time upcoming. From now on, as the good doctor said, “Say it and get it out.” • John Barrette can be reached at jbarrette@nevadaappeal.com or call 775-881-1213.