Scene In Passing: Thumpin’ the bass for Carson’s bypass

Reno’s Brad Lund, a bassist and singer/songwriter with flair and a sense of humor, used to reside in Carson City and intends to return.

He will return when hell freezes over or when the freeway bypass is finished, whichever comes first. He didn’t put it that way, but there was little doubt he wasn’t holding his breath when he declared his intentions recently. It’s hard to hold your breath while you’re singing lyrics, which he wrote and go like this:

“Take me back/To Carson City

How many years/Have I been gone?

Take me back/To Carson City

Never dreamed/I’d be away so long.

The day I left/Old Carson City

I told ‘em I/Would be back soon

Said I’ll return on the day/The Carson bypass freeway

Finally goes/All the way through.”

Lund, a graduate of the prestigious Eastman School of Music conservatory at the University of Rochester in New York, penned the song the day he and cohorts performed at the Brewery Arts Center in Carson City a while back. Lund joins colleagues Catherine Matovich and Scott Gavin in the Slide Mountain Band, which plays bluegrass and old time music, but he also is in the Reno Symphony.

Matovich can rip-it-up yet switch to sweet strains on the fiddle. Gavin is an accomplished banjo player. Lund makes the bass the group’s base. All three contribute on vocals and their band’s brand has grown in stature around the northern Nevada and California region of late.

Now, as Monty Python’s Flying Circus folks used to say, for something completely different. Well, maybe not completely. It still pushes the culture vulture button, after a fashion.

What follows is a report on books this year’s four candidates for Carson City supervisor are or recently have been reading. The question was posed that way so they wouldn’t feel crowded; after all, they’re a bit busy right now.

Ward One:

Karen Abowd’s book is “Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer” by Novella Carpenter.

Lisa Helget’s book is “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” by John C. Maxwell.

Ward Three:

John McKenna’s book is “The End of the Suburbs: Where the American Dream is Moving” by Leigh Gallagher.

Lori Bagwell’s book is “Reimagining Greenville: Building the Best Downtown in America” by John Boyanoski and Knox White.

The question had three purposes. The first was to provide at least a snapshot of each candidate’s choice when it comes to finding a topic of interest or a muse. The second was to determine if he or she was reading for information or escape. But no opinion here on choices. People read both to absorb knowledge and entertain new vistas of the imagination.

The third purpose? If you don’t read books, you can’t get this writer’s vote no matter where you position yourself on issues.

John Barrette covers Carson City government and business. He can be reached at jbarrette@nevadaappeal.com.